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Contumely definition

kŏnto͝o-mə-lē, -tyo͝o-, -təm-lē
contumelies
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Frequency:
Rudeness or contempt arising from arrogance; insolence.
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An insolent or arrogant remark or act.
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An instance of this; scornful insult.
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Offensive and abusive language or behaviour; scorn, insult.
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Haughty and contemptuous rudeness; insulting and humiliating treatment or language.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
contumely
Plural:
contumelies

Origin of contumely

  • Middle English contumelie from Old French from Latin contumēlia contumāx insolent

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Old French contumelie, from Latin contumēlia (“insult”), perhaps from com- + tumeō (“swell”).

    From Wiktionary

Contumely Sentence Examples

  • It provided punishments up to 20 years' imprisonment for anyone who published " any language intended to bring the form of Government of the United States or the Constitution into contempt, scorn, contumely and disrepute."

  • These lectures Schopenhauer attended - at first, it is allowed, with interest, but afterwards with a spirit of opposition which is said to have degenerated into contempt, and which in after years never permitted him to refer to Fichte without contumely.

  • This counsel was rejected, and in October 1565 the queen marched an army of i 8,000 men against them from Edinburgh; their forces dispersed in face of superior numbers, and Murray, on seeking shelter in England, was received with contumely by Elizabeth, whose half-hearted help had failed to support his enterprise, and whose intercession for his return found at first no favour with the queen of Scots.

  • The body of Formosus was disinterred in 897 by Stephen VI., and treated with contumely as that of a usurper of the papal throne; but Theodore II.

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Words near contumely in the Dictionary