Synonyms

despise

American

[dih-spahyz] / dɪˈspaɪz /

verb (used with object)

despised, despising

to regard with contempt, distaste, disgust, or disdain; scorn; loathe.

Synonyms:

detest, contemn

Antonyms:

admire

despise British

/ dɪˈspaɪz /

verb

(tr) to look down on with contempt; scorn

he despises flattery

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

despisable adjective
despisableness noun
despiser noun
despisingly adverb
undespised adjective
undespising adjective

Etymology

Origin of despise

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English despisen, from Old French despis-, stem of despire, from Latin dēspicere; despicable

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.

“You have to keep coming back. So, I received the grace of being rejected, the grace of being despised, and the gift of saying: ‘Okay, now we’re going to start all over again.’”

From The Wall Street Journal

That team became the lordly Yankees, an “aesthetically evil” and “universally despised dynasty” that, nonetheless, Mr. Gittlitz grudgingly admits, has a lot of working-class fans.

From The Wall Street Journal

“I really started despising law enforcement after that,” he said during an interview.

From Los Angeles Times

I picked up my own hat—the despised gray one from last year—and trailed after them, one hand clinging to the center post.

From Literature

Over the next few days, I did what any rational woman falling for a man with a cat she despised would do.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023