Search the Dictionary

Without weight of character or social standing; mean; contemptible; as, an insignificant person.

To make ridiculous and contemptible. [Obs.] I do now fool myself, to let imagination jade me. Shak.

Small in dignity, power, or importance; not great; insignificant; contemptible. When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes I Sam. xv. 17.

Mean; contemptible; as, lousy knave. [Vulgar] Such lousy learning as this is. Bale.

cteristic of, or like, one bred in a low and vulgar condition of life; mean dishonorable; contemptible; as, low-lived dishonesty.

Of little value or account; worthy of little or no regard; contemptible; despicable. The Roman legions and great Cæsar found Our fathers no mean foes. J. Philips.

Hence: A person of no influence or importance; an insignificant or contemptible person. [Colloq.]

left to the United States of America, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible and miserable, as a nation. Washington.

Mean; vile; worthless; despicable; contemptible; pitiful; trifling; as, a paltry excuse; paltry gold. Cowper. The paltry prize is hardly worth the cost. Byron.

To act as a pettifogger; to use contemptible tricks. De Quincey.

To be pitied for littleness or meanness; miserable; paltry; contemptible; despicable. That's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Shak.

Base; vile; contemptible; cowardly.

Mean; despicable; contemptible; -- used ironically; as, a pretty trick; a pretty fellow.

lone." Esther iii. 6. -- To laugh to scorn, to deride; to make a mock of; to redicule as contemptible.

Mean; dirty; contemptible; scrubby. How solitary, how scrub, does this town lokk! Walpole. No little scrub joint shall come on my board. Swift. Scrub game, a game, as of ball, by unpracticed players. -- Scrub race, a race between scrubs, or between untrained animals or contestants.

Vile; mean; low; vulgar; contemptible. "A scurvy trick." Ld. Lytton. That scurvy custom of taking tobacco. Swift. [He] spoke spoke such scurvy and provoking terms. Shak.

Tricky; deceptive; contemptible; as, a snide lawyer; snide goods. [Slang]

Moderately good or agreeable; not contemptible; not very excellent or pleasing, but such as can be borne or received without disgust, resentment, or opposition; passable; as, a tolerable administration; a tolerable entertainment; a tolerable translation. Dryden. -- Tol"er*a*ble*ness, n. -- Tol"er*a*bly, adv.…

Hatefully contemptible; despicable; wicked. [Obs.] "Wretched ungratefulness." Sir P. Sidney. Nero reigned after this Claudius, of all men wretchedest, ready to all manner [of] vices. Capgrave.