SCORN

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does scorn mean? 

• SCORN (noun)
  The noun SCORN has 2 senses:

1. lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

2. open disrespect for a person or thing

  Familiarity information: SCORN used as a noun is rare.

• SCORN (verb)
  The verb SCORN has 2 senses:

1. look down on with disdain

2. reject with contempt

  Familiarity information: SCORN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SCORN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

contempt; despite; disdain; scorn

Context example:

the despite in which outsiders were held is legendary

Hypernyms ("scorn" is a kind of...):

dislike (a feeling of aversion or antipathy)

Derivation:

scorn (look down on with disdain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Open disrespect for a person or thing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

contempt; scorn

Hypernyms ("scorn" is a kind of...):

discourtesy; disrespect (an expression of lack of respect)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "scorn"):

fleer (contempt expressed by mockery in looks or words)

leer; sneer (a facial expression of contempt or scorn; the upper lip curls)

sneer (a contemptuous or scornful remark)

Derivation:

scorn (look down on with disdain)

• SCORN (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they scorn    ... he / she / it scorns   
Past simple: scorned   
Past participle: scorned   
-ing form: scorning   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Look down on with disdain

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

contemn; despise; disdain; scorn

Context example:

The professor scorns the students who don't catch on immediately

Hypernyms (to "scorn" is one way to...):

detest; hate (dislike intensely; feel antipathy or aversion towards)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scorn"):

look down on (regard with contempt)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot scorn Sue

Derivation:

scorn (open disrespect for a person or thing)

scorn (lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike)

scorner (a person who expresses contempt by remarks or facial expression)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reject with contempt

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

disdain; freeze off; pooh-pooh; reject; scorn; spurn; turn down

Context example:

She spurned his advances

Hypernyms (to "scorn" is one way to...):

decline; refuse (show unwillingness towards)

Verb group:

decline; pass up; refuse; reject; turn down (refuse to accept)

refuse; reject; turn away; turn down (refuse entrance or membership)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "scorn"):

rebuff; repel; snub (reject outright and bluntly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

scorner (a person who expresses contempt by remarks or facial expression)

 Context examples 

I would scorn such a union: therefore I am better than you—let me go!

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I have shut them up by a charm between two mountains, said the dwarf, because they were proud and ill-behaved, and scorned to ask advice.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“He is surely some very great man, for he looks as though he scorned those who were about him.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But the older hands greeted this remark with scorn.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There had been a time when he would have scorned her as a companion, and turned from her with little ceremony.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Nor did he scorn to do battle with a weasel as hungry as himself and many times more ferocious.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Steerforth evaded the question for a little while; looking in scorn and anger on his opponent, and remaining silent.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Don't laugh! Act as if it was all right!" and, ordering Roderigo up, banished him from the kingdom with wrath and scorn.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"To please their relatives, you suppose!" This he said with intense scorn.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)