Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Contempt.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun rare A despising; contempt.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun contempt; scornful hatred

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a feeling of scornful hatred

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

despise +‎ -al

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Examples

  • The common thread, the unifying idea behind the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and also the separate (although not separately seen by western media or governments) moderate and secular hatred and despisal of the U.S. and its allies is a combination of occupation and religious intolerance.

    American Raj - Book Review 2009

  • Mastery of the machine, he will reflect, can only begin with a despisal of the machine and the supposed benefits it offers.

    G.K.'s Weekly - The Southern Agrarians 2008

  • Also, lets not forget more POW organizations and their universal despisal of Japan.

    Japan should not budge an inch » Japundit Blog 2005

  • Also, lets not forget more POW organizations and their universal despisal of Japan.

    Japan should not budge an inch » Japundit Blog 2005

  • You despise yourself, and are proud of the despisal, regarding it a virtue.

    At Swim, Two Boys Jamie O’Neill 2002

  • You despise yourself, and are proud of the despisal, regarding it a virtue.

    At Swim, Two Boys Jamie O’Neill 2002

  • And he would say this without any talent for self-despisal, with a sorry show of good humour, repugnant in its torment ....

    Loulou 1921

  • Certainly the fellow was provincial, curt, even brutal in his despisal of diplomacy.

    The Grim Smile of the Five Towns Arnold Bennett 1899

  • We must never forget that in spiritual as in physical climbing it is not every one who can bear the strain of the steeper path; there may be many for whom what seems the slower way is the only one possible, and we should indeed be unworthy followers of the great Teachers if we allowed our ignorance to betray us into the slightest thought of despisal towards those whose choice differs from our own.

    The Astral Plane Its Scenery, Inhabitants and Phenomena 1890

  • And if Catherine despises me need she render her despisal more cruel by the liking she has for that naughty Friar

    The Queen Pedauque Anatole France 1884

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