All 8 Uses of
contempt
in
Arrowsmith
- He thought of working in a laboratory at night, alone, absorbed, contemptuous of academic success and of popular classes.†
Chpt 2contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- In shops and on the elevated train, little red-faced sweaty people when they heard his accent glared at him, and growled one to another, "There's one of them damn' barb'rous well-poisoning Huns!" and however contemptuous he might be, however much he strove for ignoring pride, their nibbling reduced him from arrogant scientist to an insecure, raw-nerved, shrinking old man.†
Chpt 27
- He was like a fabulous painter, so contemptuous of popular taste that after a lifetime of creation he should destroy everything he has done, lest it be marred and mocked by the dull eyes of the crowd.†
Chpt 32
- The whistle snorted contemptuously; the hawsers were cast off.†
Chpt 32 *contemptuously = with disrespect
- Twyford looked doubtful, his mother looked delicately shocked, and the five sons beefily looked nothing at all, while Martin raged on, trying to convey his vision of the barbarian, the ascetic, the contemptuous acolyte of science.†
Chpt 34contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- Now, in melancholy worry about his own unreasonableness, he found that he was developing the same contempt for Robertshaw's rules of the thumb—and for most of the work in anatomy.†
Chpt 3
- I think people as hypercritical and lacking in humor as her should be treated with the dignified contempt they deserve, the damn fool!†
Chpt 21
- Her easy life here had seemed tasteless after the risks of St. Hubert, and in his contempt for ease and rewards she found exhilaration.†
Chpt 37
Definitions:
-
(1)
(contempt as in: feels contempt towards her) lack of respect for someone or something thought inferior -- often accompanied by a feeling of dislike or disgustA famous saying, "familiarity breeds contempt" comes from Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Lion". (6th century BC)
When first the Fox saw the Lion he was terribly frightened, and ran away and hid himself in the wood. Next time however he came near the King of Beasts he stopped at a safe distance and watched him pass by. The third time they came near one another the Fox went straight up to the Lion and passed the time of day with him, asking him how his family were, and when he should have the pleasure of seeing him again; then turning his tail, he parted from the Lion without much ceremony.
The moral is traditionally, "Familiarity breeds contempt"; though an alternative moral is "Acquaintance softens prejudices." -
(2)
(contempt as in: held in contempt of court) the crime of willful disobedience to or disrespect for the authority of a court or legislative bodyFormally, this is called "contempt of court," but it is often shortened as just "contempt."