contemn

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Did not William Blake contemn reason and paint the ghost of a flea?"

From Time Magazine Archive

I hope not; for then those who contemn it must do the same by the vaunted Rose, and the rich Carnation; for where do they blow better than in the daisy-bordered flower-beds of the poor?

From Mirror of the Months by Patmore, Peter George

His Good Word for Everybody Indeed, he has a good word for everybody, and discerns laudable qualities in some whom the world has agreed to contemn and cast out.

From Literary Shrines The Haunts of Some Famous American Authors by Wolfe, Theodore F. (Theodore Frelinghuysen)

I would fain have persuaded him that it was a wild scheme; but he was a soldier, gentlemen, and accustomed to contemn all dangers.

From The Gipsy (Vols I & II) A Tale by James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)

If we contemn what others admire, we make ourselves odious; if we admire what they despise, we are equally ridiculous.

From Winterslow Essays and Characters Written There by Hazlitt, William