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/kəntˈɛmptəbəl/ Listen

adjective

Contemptible adj.

Worthy of contempt; deserving of scorn or disdain; mean; vile; despicable. "The arguments of tyranny are ascontemptible as its force is dreadful."

Despised; scorned; neglected; abject.

Insolent; scornful; contemptuous. (Obs.) "If she should make tender of her love, 't is very possible he 'll scorn it; for the man... hath a contemptible spirit."

Synonyms: Despicable; abject; vile; mean; base; paltry; worthless; sorry; pitiful; scurrile. See Contemptuous. Contemptible, Despicable, Pitiful, Paltry. Despicable is stronger than contemptible, as despise is stronger than contemn. It implies keen disapprobation, with a mixture of anger. A man is despicable chiefly for low actions which mark his life, such as servility, baseness, or mean adulation. A man is contemptible for mean qualities which distinguish his character, especially those which show him to be weak, foolish, or worthless. Treachery is despicable, egotism is contemptible. Pitiful and paltry are applied to cases which are beneath anger, and are simply contemptible in a high degree.

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Etymology of 'Contemptible'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Contemptible" Quotes from Famous Books

... only legislative body in the world which cannot act when its majority is ready for action. A little group of willful men, representing no opinion but their own, have rendered the great Government of the United States helpless and contemptible. ...

— The Story of the Great War, Volume VI (of VIII) - History of the European War from Official Sources • Various

... Sir, you flatter yourself. You have lied over the reason. Pip, remember that I know you as you don't know yourself. You have been everything to me, though you are—(Fan-guard.) Oh, what a contemptible Thing it is! And so you are ...

— The Works of Rudyard Kipling One Volume Edition • Rudyard Kipling

... There was no traitor so treacherous as circumstance. He would not believe the lie that fate was thrusting down his throat. Roma was faithful, she would die rather than betray him, and he was a contemptible hound to allow himself to think of her in that connection. He recalled her letters, her sacrifices, her brave and cheerful renunciation, and the hard lump that had settled at his heart rose up to ...

— The Eternal City • Hall Caine

... at the height of his autocracy, he was visited by a composer named Gluck, whom we think of to-day as a revolutionist in music, and a man of the utmost historical importance. To the lordly Haendel, however, he was more or less contemptible, and people who know nothing else of either genius, know that Haendel said, "Gluck understood about as ...

— The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, Volume 1 • Rupert Hughes

... however strong her affection for Florestan, she would no sooner get him home than she would ask him how he came to be such a fool as to get into Pizarro's clutches. Anyhow, Ternina's conception of Leonora as a mixture of the contemptible will-less German haus-frau with the strong-willed woman of action, was to me a mixture of contradictions. Yet, despite all these things, the opera made the deep impression it ...

— Old Scores and New Readings • John F. Runciman

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