despise

• dispise (obsolete)

From Middle English despisen, from Old French despis-, stem of despire, from Latin dēspicere (“to look down upon, despise, scorn”), from dē (“down”) + speciō (“I look at”). Displaced native Old English forsēon.

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈspaɪz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪz

despise (third-person singular simple present despises, present participle despising, simple past and past participle despised)

1. To regard with contempt or scorn.

   Synonyms: contemn, disdain, scorn; see also Thesaurus:despise

   Antonyms: admire, cherish, honor, respect, treasure; see also Thesaurus:despise

   Hypernyms: look down on, deprecate

   Near-synonym: hate

   James still despises his brother for the time he pushed him out of a tree during their childhood.

2. To disregard or ignore.

• despect
• despection

• vilipend

• “despise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “despise”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• pedesis