insult

English

Etymology

Latin insultāre (“to jump at, insult”), ultimately from salīre (“to jump”).

Pronunciation

• (verb) enPR: ĭnsŭlt', IPA: /ɪnˈsʌlt/, X-SAMPA: /In"sVlt/
• (noun) enPR: ĭn'sŭlt, IPA: /ˈɪn.sʌlt/, X-SAMPA: /"In.sVlt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlt

Verb

insult (third-person singular simple present insults, present participle insulting, simple past and past participle insulted)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (over, against). [16th-19th c.]
   • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II.3.3:

     thou hast lost all, poor thou art, dejected, in pain of body, grief of mind, thine enemies insult over thee, thou art as bad as Job [...].

2. (transitive) To offend (someone) by being rude, insensitive or insolent; to demean or affront (someone). [from 17th c.]
3. (obsolete) To leap or trample upon; to make a sudden onset upon.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (to offend): abuse, affront, offend, slight
• See also Wikisaurus:offend

Translations

to offend

• Arabic: أهان (ar) ('uhaana)
• Catalan: insultar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 侮辱 (cmn) (wǔrǔ)

• Czech: urazit (cs)
• Dutch: beledigen (nl)
• Finnish: loukata (fi)
• French: insulter (fr)
• German: beleidigen (de)
• Greek: προσβάλλω (el) (prosvállo)
• Hindi: निन्द् (hi) (nind)
• Italian: offendere (it), insultare (it)
• Japanese: 侮辱する (ja) (bujoku-suru)
• Malayalam: അപമാനിക്കുക (ml) (avamanikkuka), നിന്ദിക്കുക (ml) (nindikkuka)

• Marathi: निन्द् (mr) (nind)
• Persian: دشنام (fa) (doshnam)
• Portuguese: insultar (pt), injuriar (pt)
• Romanian: jigni (ro), insulta (ro)
• Russian: оскорблять (ru) (oskorblját') impf., оскорбить (ru) (oskorbít') pf., обижать (ru) (obižát') impf., обидеть (ru) (obídet') pf.
• Sanskrit: निन्द् (sa) (nind)
• Spanish: insultar (es)
• Swahili: matusi (sw)
• Swedish: förolämpa (sv)
• Turkish: aşağılamak (tr), hakaret etmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: (imperfective) ображати (uk) (obražáty), (perfective) образити (uk) (obrázyty)
• Urdu: بے عزت کرنا، (ur) m, ذلیل کرنا (ur) m, اہانت کرنا (ur)

Noun

insult (plural insults)

1. An action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude.
   • 1987, Jamie Lee Curtis, A Fish Called Wanda:

     To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people!

2. Anything that causes offence/offense by being of an unacceptable quality.

   The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.

3. (medicine) Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes.
   • 2006, Stephen G. Lomber, Jos J. Eggermont, Reprogramming the Cerebral Cortex (page 415)

     […] most investigators agreed with the characterization of early brain plasticity as a transiently available, ancillary system that is triggered by neural insult […]

   • 2011, Terence Allen and Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford 2011, p. 96:

     Within the complex genome of most organisms there are alternative multiple pathways of proteins which can help the individual cell survive a variety of insults, for example radiation, toxic chemicals, heat, excessive or reduced oxygen.

Synonyms

• (deliberatedly intended to be rude): abuse (uncountable), affront, offence (UK)/offense (US), pejorative, slam, slight, slur
• (thing causing offence by being of unacceptable quality): disgrace, outrage
• See also Wikisaurus:offense

Translations

action or speech deliberately intended to be rude

• Catalan: insult (ca) m
• Chinese: 侮辱 (wǔrǔ)
• Dutch: belediging (nl) f
• Finnish: loukkaus (fi), parjaus (fi)
• French: insulte (fr) f
• German: Beleidigung (de) f
• Greek: προσβολή (el) (prosvolí) f

  Ancient: αἰκία (aikia) f

• Italian: insulto (it) m, offesa (it) f, oltraggio (it) m, affronto (it) m, ingiuria (it) f
• Korean: 모욕 (ko)
• Latin: maledictum (la) n, contumelia (la) f, convicium (la) n

• Malayalam: ആക്ഷേപിക്കുക (ml) (akṣepikkuka)
• Polish: zniewaga (pl) f, wyzwisko (pl) n, obraza (pl) f
• Portuguese: insulto (pt) m, ofensa (pt) f
• Romanian: insultă (ro), jignire (ro), injurie (ro)
• Russian: оскорбление (ru) (oskorbl'énije) n
• Spanish: insulto (es) m
• Swahili: tusi (sw)
• Swedish: förolämpning (sv) c
• Turkish: hakaret (tr), aşağılama (tr)
• Ukrainian: образа (uk) (obráza) f

anything that causes offence/offense by being of an unacceptable quality

• Catalan: insult (ca) m
• Finnish: loukkaus (fi), (dated) pahennus (fi)
• German: Beleidigung (de) f
• Greek: προσβολή (el) (prosvolí) f
• Malayalam: ആക്ഷേപ (ml) (akṣepam)

• Polish: obraza (pl) f
• Portuguese: insulto (pt), ofensa (pt) f
• Sanskrit: आक्षेपः (sa) (akṣepam), निन्दा (sa) (ninda)
• Swahili: matusi (sw)
• Turkish: eziyet (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

• Spanish: ofensa (es) f

Related terms

• insolence
• insultation

Anagrams

• sunlit
• unlist