1
as in contemptuous
feeling or showing open dislike for someone or something regarded as undeserving of respect or concern
the actress gave the paparazzi a scornful glare before breezing on by them
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in slighting
intended to make a person or thing seem of little importance or value
the tenant's complaints were met with the scornful observation that he expected too much for the rent he was paying
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of scornful
The president has outlined a deeply misguided foreign policy vision that is distrustful of U.S. allies, scornful of international institutions, and indifferent, if not downright hostile, to the liberal international order that the United States has sustained for nearly eight decades.
—
Eliot A. Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 11 Dec. 2018
The Masked Man provides a running commentary, sometimes scornful but sometimes sympathetic.
—Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 12 May 2024
Presiding over all this, white-haired, scornful and more than usually vicious, is McKellen’s self-serving, nakedly villainous Falstaff.
—David Benedict, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024
Screenshots and copies of the complaint spread far and wide became fodder for the already overwhelming fire of scornful messages and posts towards the women, a lawyer for one of the women says.
—Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for scornful
Eliot A. Cohen, Foreign Affairs, 11 Dec. 2018
The Masked Man provides a running commentary, sometimes scornful but sometimes sympathetic.
—Mary Ann Grossmann, Twin Cities, 12 May 2024
Presiding over all this, white-haired, scornful and more than usually vicious, is McKellen’s self-serving, nakedly villainous Falstaff.
—David Benedict, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024
Screenshots and copies of the complaint spread far and wide became fodder for the already overwhelming fire of scornful messages and posts towards the women, a lawyer for one of the women says.
—Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2024
See All Example Sentences for scornful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scornful
Adjective
-
The president was also profoundly contemptuous of women, kept his true opposition to female suffrage carefully hidden, and allowed the suffragists who silently held banners outside the White House to be repeatedly attacked by mobs, beaten, and jailed.—
Foreign Affairs,
Foreign Affairs,
25 Feb. 2025
-
The arguments Republicans have made in their opposition to Joe Biden’s contemptuous pardons are pretty compelling.—
Noah Rothman,
National Review,
21 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
President-Elect Donald Trump is openly disdainful of many governments in Europe and seems willing to walk away from America’s role as the continent’s protector.—
Phillips Payson O’Brien,
The Atlantic,
13 Jan. 2025
-
Now, the norms for AI will emerge in a political and cultural environment that's hostile to regulation and disdainful of limits.—
Scott Rosenberg,
Axios,
8 Jan. 2025
Adjective
-
Even more difficult in the day-to-day is Donald Trump’s relentless and insulting commentary.—
Ken Dryden,
The Atlantic,
23 Feb. 2025
-
The incredibly insulting idea of canceling the name of the prolific U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde was bad enough.—
Naperville Sun,
Chicago Tribune,
21 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
The actor has one daughter with ex-wife Melanie Griffith and has been dating his girlfriend Nicole Kimpel since 2014. 05 of 09 John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad The actor behind the arrogant Lord Farquaad boasts an impressive career that began decades before Shrek came out in 2001.—
Zoey Lyttle,
People.com,
1 Mar. 2025
-
Many members of its board appeared arrogant in the face of questions from the prosecutor or one of the lawyers.—
Laia Cervelló Herrero,
The Athletic,
23 Feb. 2025
Adjective
-
Fraudsters are increasingly using generative AI to write convincing phishing emails, improve deepfakes, and draft new forms of malicious code — making scams harder to detect.—
Sam Sabin,
Axios,
11 Mar. 2025
-
The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious apps is to have antivirus software installed on all your devices.—
Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report,
Fox News,
11 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
As mere surrogates, the Trump-DeSantis fight to outdo each other through mean and cruel policies will go on.—
Letters to the Editor,
Orlando Sentinel,
6 Mar. 2025
-
Immigration advocates call the crackdown cruel and wrongheaded and warn that many Latino U.S. citizens will likely suffer violations of their civil rights and possibly even get mistakenly deported.—
Dave Goldiner,
New York Daily News,
6 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
This subsided with unusual speed, however, as cricket fans took instead to sharing the self-deprecatory jokes coming over the border.—
The Economist,
The Economist,
22 June 2019
-
Philipps has acquired her 1-million-and-growing Instagram followers through her self-deprecatory humor, raw honesty and vulnerability.—
Sonja Haller,
USA TODAY,
11 July 2018
Adjective
-
After cutting ties with Kanye West following the rapper’s abhorrent antisemitic comments in October 2022, Adidas has finally offloaded the last of its Yeezy stock.—
Cheyenne Roundtree,
Rolling Stone,
5 Mar. 2025
-
During the exchange, Hamas paraded the coffins and displayed propaganda in a move the UN called abhorrent.—
Chris Kenning,
USA TODAY,
20 Feb. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Scornful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scornful. Accessed 15 Mar. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share