scorn
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
idioms
noun
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open contempt or disdain for a person or thing; derision
-
an object of contempt or derision
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archaic an act or expression signifying contempt
verb
-
to treat with contempt or derision
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(tr) to reject with contempt
Synonym Usage
See contempt.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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scornernoun
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scornfulnessnoun
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self-scornnoun
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outscornverb (used with object)
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scornfuladjective
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scornfullyadverb
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scorninglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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scornsimple
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scornssimple
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have scornedperfect
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has scornedperfect
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am scorningprogressive
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are scorningprogressive
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is scorningprogressive
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have been scorningperfect progressive
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has been scorningperfect progressive
Past
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scornedsimple
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had scornedperfect
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was scorningprogressive
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were scorningprogressive
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had been scorningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scorn
First recorded in 1150–1200; (noun) Middle English scorn, scarn, from Old French escarn, from Germanic (compare obsolete Dutch schern “mockery, trickery”); (verb) Middle English skarnen, sc(h)ornen, from Old French escharnir, eschernir, ultimately from Germanic
Explanation
Scorn is open disrespect for someone or something. It can also be disrespect coupled with feelings of intense dislike. The noun scorn describes your feelings of disdain when you encounter something you view as worthless or inferior — like, for instance, a talk show that gets all its facts wrong. Use the verb form for those times when you’re actively expressing scorn. You might scorn a politician who spends $100,000 on travel while claiming to work hard promoting middle-class values.
Vocabulary lists containing scorn
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act I
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Declaration of the Rights of Woman (1791)
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List 7
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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:
Much of his scorn, for example, is directed at the millennial Lean In crowd that wanted women to be more like successful men—ambitious and loud.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
“Trainspotting” is in part a sly corrective to “Clockwork,” which heaped scorn on both criminals and criminal justice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Or maybe Becerra was, indeed, a feckless, flailing and thoroughly awful Cabinet member, deserving of scorn and shame.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
Someone who has no retirement savings in middle age can, unfortunately, receive the same amount of scorn as a well-heeled retiree who has $10 million in middle age.
From MarketWatch ● May 12, 2026
To my surprise Mrs. Danvers considered him a moment without speaking, and there was something of scorn in the glance she gave him.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
More than once Mr. Vance scorns elite “strivers” and purports to feel shame that he once tried hard to gain admittance to their circles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Martinique official Serge Letchimy hailed a vote that he said had come "to shatter a system that tramples on the truth, absolves the guilty, and scorns the victims".
From Barron's ● Jun. 2, 2026
And she consistently scorns consideration of congressional intent.
From Slate ● Jul. 31, 2023
His tasteful outfit layers black on black on black, he scorns flash and eyeliner.
From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2023
I tells them how it happened in a dream, but they scorns me.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
The humble tomato, beloved by many yet scorned by some, slowly awakens from hibernation, reminding us that warm weather, spent indulging in fresh salads and produce-filled sandwiches, is almost here.
From Salon ● Apr. 6, 2026
In England through much of the 20th century, conversion was tolerated—especially if you were creative—but sometimes scorned.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 3, 2026
However, he has scorned the description of Opendoor as a meme stock, describing it instead as a “cult stock.”
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2025
The bat flip, once scorned as an instrument of disrespect, is now celebrated by the league itself.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2025
The world had caught him; pleasure, covetousness, idleness, and finally also that vice that he had always despised and scorned as the most foolish—acquisitiveness.
From "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse
On the contrary, he mistrusts them, scorning even the praise heaped upon him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026
Onstage, Carmen was passionately scorning her erstwhile lover.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2024
By scorning this routine digital probing, they attenuate their safety and intensify their exhilaration in roughly equal measure.
From New York Times ● Jul. 12, 2022
He spent a lifetime scorning bigotry as not only immoral but irrational and un-American.
From Slate ● Feb. 16, 2022
Now they had all seen—everyone in the shop—and no doubt were scorning him for a poor sort of creature, cringing and puny, unable to defend himself.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
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.
