Search the Dictionary

An opinion, example, or statement, laid down or asserted; a declaration.

children bear to their mothers, have no grounds of nature or assiduity but civility and opinion. Jer. Taylor.

ing an effect from a cause, means, or condition, as profits from capital, conclusions or opinions from evidence. As touching traditional communication, . . . I do not doubt but many of those truths have had the help of that derivation. Sir M. Hale.

ook down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Prov. i. 7. Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them. Jowett (Thucyd. ).

Opinion; decision. [Obs.] Rom. of R.

A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.

To be of unlike or opposite opinion; to disagree in sentiment; -- often with from or with.

Disagreement in opinion; dissension; controversy; quarrel; hence, cause of dissension; matter in controversy. What was the difference It was a contention in public. Shak. Away therefore went I with the constable, leaving the old warden and the young constable to compose their difference as they could. T. Ellwood.…

Spread abroad; dispersed; loose; flowing; diffuse. It grew to be a widely diffused opinion. Hawthorne. -- Dif*fus"ed*ly, adv. -- Dif*fus"ed*ness, n.

gnity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken. This doth nothing diminish their opinion. Robynson (More's Utopia). I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. Ezek. xxix. 15. O thou . . . at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminished heads. Milton.

being deprived of dignity; a lowering in estimation; degradation; abasement. The world's opinion or diminution of me. Eikon Basilike. Nor thinks it diminution to be ranked In military honor next. Philips.

in. The priest shall dip his finger in the blood. Lev. iv. 6. [Wat'ry fowl] now dip their pinions in the briny deep. Pope. While the prime swallow dips his wing. Tennyson.

To differ in opinion; to hold discordant views; to be at controversy; to quarrel. Who shall decide, when doctors disagree Pope.

Difference of opinion or sentiment.

The act of disbelieving;; a state of the mind in which one is fully persuaded that an opinion, assertion, or doctrine is not true; refusal of assent, credit, or credence; denial of belief. Our belief or disbelief of a thing does not alter the nature of the thing. Tillotson. No sadder proof can be given by a man of his…

A public disavowal, as of pretensions, claims, opinions, and the like. Burke.

ing discordant; disagreement; inconsistency. There will arise a thousand discordances of opinion. I. Taylor.

To leave out of account; to take no notice of. [R.] Of the three opinions (I discount Brown's). Sir W. Hamilton.

disfavor. [Obs.] What fables have you vexed, what truth redeemed, Antiquities searched, opinions disesteemed B. Jonson.

Injurious comparison with an inferior; a depreciating or dishonoring opinion or insinuation; diminution of value; dishonor; indignity; reproach; disgrace; detraction; -- commonly with to. It ought to be no disparagement to a star that it is not the sun. South. Imitation is a disparagement and a degradation in a Christi…