DESPISING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does despising mean? 

• DESPISING (noun)
  The noun DESPISING has 1 sense:

1. a feeling of scornful hatred

  Familiarity information: DESPISING used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DESPISING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A feeling of scornful hatred

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

despisal; despising

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

hate; hatred (the emotion of intense dislike; a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action)

Derivation:

despise (look down on with disdain)

 Context examples 

I had supposed him to be despising his fellow-creatures in general, but did not suspect him of descending to such malicious revenge, such injustice, such inhumanity as this.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

But while she smiled at a graciousness so misapplied, she could not reflect on the mean-spirited folly from which it sprung, nor observe the studied attentions with which the Miss Steeles courted its continuance, without thoroughly despising them all four.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

You wanted me, I know, to say 'Yes,' that you might have the pleasure of despising my taste; but I always delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes, and cheating a person of their premeditated contempt. I have, therefore, made up my mind to tell you, that I do not want to dance a reel at all—and now despise me if you dare.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

He stayed there two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself, and despising the janitor's work with which he was to pay his way through.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)