Word Direct Answers

What does "disdain" mean?

Disdain: That which is worthy to be disdained or regarded with contempt and aversion. [Obs.] Most loathsome, filthy, foul, and full of vile disdain. Spenser.

Additional senses

  1. 2.The state of being despised; shame. [Obs.] Shak. See Haughtiness.
  2. 3.To think unworthy; to deem unsuitable or unbecoming; as, to disdain to do a mean act. Disdaining . . . that any should bear the armor of the best knight living. Sir P. Sidney.
  3. 4.To reject as unworthy of one's self, or as not deserving one's notice; to look with scorn upon; to scorn, as base acts, character, etc. When the Philistine . . . saw Dawid, he disdained him; for he was but a youth. 1 Sam. xvii.
  4. 5.'T is great, 't manly to disdain disguise. Young. See Contemn.
  5. 6.To be filled with scorn; to feel contemptuous anger; to be haughty. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the marvels that he did . . . they disdained. Genevan Testament (Matt. xxi. 15).

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