contemptible
contemptible is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 2 senses, and appears in Roget's Thesaurus (1911) with 40 related terms. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.
Definitions
- 1.Despised; scorned; neglected; abject. Locke.
- 2.Insolent; scornful; contemptuous. [Obs.] If she should make tender of her love, 't is very possible he 'll scorn it; for the man . . . hath a contemptible spirit. Shak. See Contemptuous. -- Contemptible, Despicable, Pitiful, Paltry. Despicable is stronger than contemptible, as despise is stronger than contemn. It implies keen disapprobation, with a mixture of anger. A man is despicable chiefly for low actions which mark his life, such as servility, baseness, or mean adulation. A man is contemptible for mean qualities which distinguish his character, especially those which show him to be weak, foolish, or worthless. Treachery is despicable, egotism is contemptible. Pitiful and paltry are applied to cases which are beneath anger, and are simply contemptible in a high degree.
Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
Synonyms
Synonyms (Webster's 1913)
Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
Related terms (Roget's 1911)
- absurdity
- anticlimax
- awkward
- baroque
- bathos
- bear
- bizarre
- bombast
- bombastic
- buffoonery
- burlesque
- comedy
- comical
- comicality
- commit
- dancing
- derisive
- doggerel
- droll
- drollery
- drollish
- eccentric
- eccentricity
- extravagance
- extravagant
- fanciful
- fantastic
- farce
- farcical
- fool
- frippery
- from
- fun
- funny
- gimcrack
- grotesque
- heroic
- inflated
- ironical
- laugh
Source: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
Related questions
Reverse-dictionary questions
Definition-first questions whose answer is contemptible.
Sources
- Definitions: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
- Synonyms & antonyms: Roget's Thesaurus, 1911 edition (public domain, via Project Gutenberg eBook #10681).
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