contumely

3 definitions found

contumely - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Contumely \Con"tu*me*ly\, n. [L. contumelia, prob. akin to
     contemnere to despise: cf. OF. contumelie. Cf. Contumacy.]
     Rudeness compounded of haughtiness and contempt; scornful
     insolence; despiteful treatment; disdain; contemptuousness in
     act or speech; disgrace.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely.
                                                    --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Nothing aggravates tyranny so much as contumely.
                                                    --Burke.
     [1913 Webster]

contumely - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  contumely
      n 1: a rude expression intended to offend or hurt; "when a
           student made a stupid mistake he spared them no abuse";
           "they yelled insults at the visiting team" [syn: abuse,
           insult, revilement, contumely, vilification]

contumely - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  94 Moby Thesaurus words for "contumely":
     abuse, affront, airs, animadversion, arrogance, aspersion,
     assailing, assault, assurance, atrocity, attack, audacity,
     berating, billingsgate, bitter words, blackening, boldness,
     brickbat, bumptiousness, calumny, clannishness, cliquishness,
     contempt, contemptuousness, cut, despite, diatribe, disdain,
     disdainfulness, disparagement, dump, effrontery, enormity,
     exclusiveness, execration, flout, flouting, gibe, hard words,
     hardihood, hauteur, hubris, humiliation, indignity, injury,
     insolence, insult, invective, jawing, jeer, jeering, jeremiad,
     mock, mockery, obloquy, obtrusiveness, offense, onslaught,
     opprobrium, outrage, overweening, overweeningness, philippic,
     presumption, presumptuousness, procacity, pushiness, put-down,
     rating, reflection, revilement, ridicule, scoff, scorn,
     scornfulness, screed, scurrility, slap, sniffiness, snobbishness,
     snootiness, snottiness, sovereign contempt, stricture,
     superciliousness, taunt, tirade, tongue-lashing, toploftiness,
     uncomplimentary remark, uppishness, uppityness, vilification,
     vituperation