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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)

98,828 entries. Headwords are matched first, then definition text.

39 words match “CONTEMPTIBLE”

CONTEMPTIBLE a. 3 definitions

rving of scorn or disdain; mean; vile; despicable. Milton. The arguments of tyranny are ascontemptible as its force is dreadful. Burke.

CONTEMPTIBLENESS n.

The state or quality of being contemptible, or of being despised.

rable descent. Title and ancestry render a good man more illustrious, but an ill one more contemptible. Addison.

Insignificant; contemptible. [Obs.]

like, a beggar; suitable for a beggar; extremely indigent; poverty-stricken; mean; poor; contemptible. "A bankrupt, beggarly fellow." South. "A beggarly fellowship." Swift. "Beggarly elements." Gal. iv. 9.

Infamous; contemptible; -- variously used for mere emphasis or as a low epithet. [Vulgar] Thackeray.

Empty talk; contemptible nonsense; trash; humbug. [Colloq.]

A contemptible or worthless person; -- a term of reproach. [Obs.] "Old feeble carrions." Shak.

CONTEMPTIBILITY n.

The quality of being contemptible; contemptibleness. Speed.

CONTEMPTIBLY adv.

In a contemptible manner.

A contemptible or vicious critic. The rancorous and reptile crew of poeticules, who decompose into criticasters. Swinburne.

A little or insignificant dandy; a contemptible fop.

Fit or deserving to be despised; contemptible; mean; vile; worthless; as, a despicable man; despicable company; a despicable gift.

Despicable; contemptible. [R.]

To hate intensely; to abhor; to abominate; to loathe; as, we detest what is contemptible or evil. Who dares think one thing, and another tell, My heart detests him as the gates of hell. Pope.

Absurd; ridiculous; despicable; contemptible. A foolish figure he must make. Prior.

A frivolous, contemptible fellow; a fop. A pert fribble of a peer. Thackeray.

Trifling; contemptible.

A young or inferior devil; a little, malignant spirit; a puny demon; a contemptible evil worker. To mingle in the clamorous fray Of squabbling imps. Beattie.

Fig.: Any small, trivial, or contemptible person or thing. Thomson. Insect powder,a powder used for the extermination of insects; esp., the powdered flowers of certain species of Pyrethrum, a genus now merged in Chrysanthemum. Called also Persian powder.