Despise \De*spise"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Despised}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Despising}.] [OF. despis-, in some forms of despire to despise, fr. L. despicere, despectum, to look down upon, despise; de- + spicere, specere, to look. See {Spy}, and cf. {Despicable}, {Despite}.] To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of.
Fools despise wisdom and instruction. --Prov. i. 7.
Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them. --Jowett (Thucyd. ).
Syn: To contemn; scorn; disdain; slight; undervalue. See {Contemn}.
Like many people who pretend to despise money she left a fortune, well over Pounds 1m, when she died in 1991.
The speed with which such program trades take place and the volatile price movements they can cause are what program trading critics profess to despise.
Professors who despise the middle class are essentially aristocratic in outlook.
And Buz Lukens, even though people despise him, he's a very good politician." As it turned out, Mattox ignored much of what Lukens told him.
"Ninety-nine percent of Iraqis despise America," insists a psychiatrist named Ali Harchan, marching Monday in a stage-managed rally at the American Embassy, an almost daily ritual in Baghdad.
It becomes less democratic and often less discerning.' 'We don't despise sponsors, but they're not a 'spontaneous' public - if it was free, you wouldn't see 1 per cent of these people.
Ecologists despise them. People on the street no longer care for them.
All stick and no carrot. Top scorers despise 'soft' management techniques and maintain that the department of hard knocks at the university of life taught them what they know.
In fact, he means, 'I despise you, Mr. Godard.'
It was written by speechwriters, the one remaining political class that tends to despise what the consultants are doing to politics.