contumely
noun
Did you know?
Geoffrey Chaucer was writing about the sin of contumelie, as it was spelled in Middle English, back in the late 1300s. We borrowed the word from Middle French (whence it had earlier arrived from Latin contumelia), and it has since seen wide literary use. Perhaps its most famous occurrence is in Hamlet's To be or not to be soliloquy:
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely....
That's not to say the word has no use in modern English. For example, political columnist Mona Charen expressed the opinion that then-President Bush had not only been criticized by those on the left of the political spectrum, but had "also suffered the contumely of some on the right and of seemingly everyone in the center."
Dictionary Entries Near contumely
Cite this Entry
“Contumely.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contumely. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share