disdain
Americanverb (used with object)
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disdains,
present (3rd person singular)
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disdained,
past participle, past
-
disdaining
present participle
noun
noun
verb
Synonym Usage
See contempt.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
disdainsimple
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disdainssimple
-
have disdainedperfect
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has disdainedperfect
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am disdainingprogressive
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are disdainingprogressive
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is disdainingprogressive
-
have been disdainingperfect progressive
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has been disdainingperfect progressive
Past
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disdainedsimple
-
had disdainedperfect
-
was disdainingprogressive
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were disdainingprogressive
-
had been disdainingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of disdain
First recorded in 1300–50; (for the verb) Middle English disdainen, from Anglo-French de(s)deigner, equivalent to dis- 1 + deign; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
If you feel that something isn't worthy of your consideration, you may disdain it (or treat it with disdain). In Old French, deignier meant "to treat something as worthy." To disdain something, then, is to treat it with contempt: "Management at [the company] displayed a certain disdain for safety and appeared to regard safety-conscious workers as wimps in the organization." As a verb, disdain carries an air of self-righteousness not associated with similar words like despise, abhor, detest, loathe and scorn. So if you disdain something, you might reject it with a haughty scoff, "Ha!"
Vocabulary lists containing disdain
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The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Another point in Europe’s favor is that international investors view the region much like Bessent does, with indifference if not disdain.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 9, 2026
A hotbed of feminist rebellion, its corset-shattering, myth-busting history encompasses a journey of emancipation, imagination, and healthy disdain for patriarchal expectations.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“There is a well documented and rather archaic disdain for my profession,” said Nils Busch-Petersen, head of the Berlin and Brandenburg retailers’ association.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026
"There's a sort of disdain for things AI."
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
His initial expression of solicitous pleasantry is replaced first by alarm and then by disdain.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
With no action expected on rates on Wednesday, the attention will be on him: Will he submit a forecast for rate projections he disdains?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Sandra Angelloz is another producer who disdains Reblochon's "garnish" status.
From Salon ● Dec. 13, 2022
“It amazes us so, because it serenely disdains to destroy us.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2022
This contrivance surely served only to highlight the absence of Ferrante herself, thus keeping the audience’s attention fixed on the figure of the missing “writer-hero” she disdains.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 16, 2022
Do you see how awful it is to be in love with someone who disdains you?
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
Air conditioning, long disdained in France, is "no longer taboo at all", Jehanno said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
And though life off the mountain didn’t always go smoothly, he disdained regret.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
In Sondheim’s body of work, Okrent searches for the autobiographical resonances that Sondheim himself mostly disdained.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
In a December 1904 message to Congress, Roosevelt disdained any “unmanly” inclination to a “peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven weakness, the peace of injustice.”
From Salon ● Dec. 27, 2025
In both his dress and his manner, he disdained all festivity.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Elon Musk, best known for disdaining fossil fuels and selling close to 10 million electric vehicles, is actively advocating natural-gas turbines for data centers and chip factories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Others, disdaining the election, said they had skipped voting altogether.
From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
Stutzman, who was widely quoted during the 2016 campaign disdaining the GOP front-runner, recalls spotting Bera that year at a French restaurant in downtown Sacramento.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2023
Many musical purists looked down on the genre, disdaining renditions of Bach on the synthesizer and performances by Luciano Pavarotti in which the Italian tenor sweatily belted out Neapolitan standards.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2020
Beyond its battered frame the black-barked trees grew straight to the heavens, disdaining the forest floor, where tangled heather and brush hid the path leading from this lonely spot.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
