contempt

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman contempt (“open disrespect towards authority; scorn”) and its source Latin contemptus (“a despising, scorn”),^[2][3][4] formed on the past participial stem of contemnō (“to scorn, despise”).^{[2][5][6][7][8]} The Latin verb is formed from con-, here perhaps intensive, and *temnō (“to slight”), of uncertain origin;^[3][5] Barnhart notes that the classical temnō is an artificial form that poets abstracted from the compound.^[5] De Vaan, cited by Etymonline, connects it with a root meaning "to cut", comparing Middle Irish tamnaid (“cuts”) and Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”).^[3] In the Latin noun the n was lost and a p inserted.^[4] The same verb gave contemn.^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A feeling that a person or thing is inferior, worthless or despicable: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis,^[2][9] in the phrase in contempt of.^[2] Etymonline puts the sense "open disregard of authority" in the late 14th century and the general sense of scorn about 1400.^[3] The Anglo-Norman word already had the first of these by the late 13th century, often in law.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The legal sense, disobedience to the commands of the king or the authority of Parliament, is recorded in English from 1424,^[2] and contempt of court, after the medieval Latin contemptus curiae, from before 1579;^[2] Etymonline dates the phrase by 1719.^[3] The state of being despised, as in to bring into contempt, appeared about 1430,^[2] an act showing scorn in 1502,^[2] and a person or thing deserving scorn in 1589, a use now rare.^[2] To hold someone in contempt, in the sense of despising them, dates from before 1450, and in the sense of ruling them guilty of contempt of court from 1827.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the act of despising others; slight regard; scorn".^[10] A verb contempt, to scorn, used from the 1550s, is now archaic.^[2][11][12]

Timeline

• a1393 – scorn, in Gower.^[2][9]
• 1424 – (law) disobedience to the monarch or Parliament.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the state of being despised.^[2]
• 1502 – an act of scorn.^[2]
• a1555 – the verb, to scorn (now archaic).^[2]
• a1579 – contempt of court.^[2]
• 1589 – an object of scorn.^[2]
• 1827 – to hold in contempt of court.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The feeling that someone or something is worthless or beneath respect; scorn: He spoke of his critics with open contempt.
2. The state of being despised: The old regime had fallen into contempt.
3. (law) Deliberate disobedience to or disrespect for a court or legislative body; in full contempt of court.

Word family

• contemptible
• contemptuous
• self-contempt
• contempt of Congress

Related words

• contemn
• scorn
• disdain

Usage notes

Dictionary.com distinguishes contempt, disdain and scorn, which all express strong disapproval of what seems base or worthless.^[4] The phrase beneath contempt describes someone not worth even despising.^[12][2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press