contumely
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
From Old French contumelie, from Latin contumēlia (“insult”), perhaps from com- + tumeō (“swell”).
Pronunciation [edit]
- IPA: /ˈkɒntjuːməli/
Noun [edit]
contumely (countable and uncountable; plural contumelies)
- Offensive and abusive language or behaviour; scorn, insult.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark:
- For who would beare the Whips and Scornes of time, The Oppressors wrong, the poore mans Contumely [...].
- 1914, Grace Livingston Hill, The Best Man:
- What scorn, what contumely, would be his!
- 1953, James Strachey, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, p. 178:
- If this picture of the two psychical agencies and their relation to the consciousness is accepted, there is a complete analogy in political life to the extraordinary affection which I felt in my dream for my friend R., who was treated with such contumely during the dream's interpretation.
- 1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff:
- I could think of no words adequate to the occasion. So I belched. Not out of contumely, you understand. It was a sympathetic belch, a belch of brotherhood.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark:
Translations [edit]
offensive and abusive language or behaviour
|
