All 50 Uses of
contempt
in
Atlas Shrugged
- "Don't show that you're scared, Jim," she said contemptuously.†
Chpt 1.1contemptuously = with disrespect
- When called upon, he moved with contemptuous slowness.†
Chpt 1.3contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- She had shrugged, contemptuously amused; if it served his purpose, whatever that was, to appropriate her achievements, then, for his own advantage, if for no other reason, he would leave her free to achieve, from now on.†
Chpt 1.4contemptuously = with disrespect
- She was talking to a couple of helpless young men, her face contemptuously empty.†
Chpt 1.5
- Days later, sitting at her desk at Rockdale Station, feeling lightheartedly at home, Dagny thought of the party and shrugged in contemptuous reproach at her own disappointment.†
Chpt 1.5contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- "Plot is a primitive vulgarity in literature," said Balph Eubank contemptuously.†
Chpt 1.6contemptuously = with disrespect
- If you'd only wait for a couple of years—" Rearden chuckled, gaily, contemptuously.†
Chpt 1.7
- He glanced through the clipping, smiled contemptuously and tossed it aside with a gesture of distaste.†
Chpt 1.7
- She thought: You're tired-and watched her own mood with severe, contemptuous detachment, knowing that it would pass.†
Chpt 1.8contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- Pat Logan, the engineer, a short, sinewy man with graying hair and a contemptuously inscrutable face, posed in a manner of amused indifference.†
Chpt 1.8contemptuously = with disrespect
- Don't cross that bridge till I come to it," Pat Logan answered contemptuously.†
Chpt 1.8
- He turned the light on again, with a single, contemptuous jerk of his wrist.†
Chpt 1.8contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- He stood looking down at her naked body, he leaned over, she heard his voice-it was more a statement of contemptuous triumph than a question: "You want it?"†
Chpt 1.8
- There was the faint suggestion of a contemptuous smile in his face, at once admitting and mocking his knowledge of her hours of impatience and his own.†
Chpt 1.9
- He was so tired of all those people, he thought in contemptuous bitterness; he dealt with cosmic rays, while they were unable to deal with an electric storm.†
Chpt 2.1
- Dr. Stadler reached over and made the book slide from the corner to the center of his desk, with a contemptuous flick of one hand.†
Chpt 2.1
- "Public relations?" he said contemptuously.†
Chpt 2.1contemptuously = with disrespect
- He tossed the manuscript down on the desk with a casual, contemptuous movement of his wrist.†
Chpt 2.1contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- Years ago, he had wondered with contemptuous incredulity about the fanatical sects that appeared among men in the dark corners of history, the sects who believed that man was trapped in a malevolent universe ruled by evil for the sole purpose of his torture.†
Chpt 2.1
- He felt the tight, contemptuous movement of his lips pressed together in token of the words he cried to himself: You made a contract once, now stick to it.†
Chpt 2.2
- She saw the anger in his face-the rebellion against pity-the look of saying to her contemptuously that he had betrayed no torture and needed no help-then the look of the realization that she knew his face as thoroughly as he knew hers-he closed his eyes, he inclined his head a little, and he said very quietly, "Thank you."†
Chpt 2.2contemptuously = with disrespect
- The great man who was so contemptuous-in business-of weaklings who trimmed corners or fell by the wayside, because they couldn't match his strength of character and steadfastness of purpose!†
Chpt 2.3contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- God help them all-he thought, driving through the dark streets of a small town, borrowing, in contemptuous pity, the words of their belief which he had never shared.†
Chpt 2.4
- Rearden smiled contemptuously, "Aren't you one of those damn altruists who spends his time on a non-profit venture and risks his life merely to serve others?†
Chpt 2.7contemptuously = with disrespect
- Slowly, patiently, with contemptuous politeness, the conductor gave him an exact account of the situation.†
Chpt 2.7contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- Now, he felt a contemptuous indifference and no desire to save them.†
Chpt 2.7
- She felt no pity for the stranger, only a contemptuous impatience; she had to fight him and destroy him, then her way would be clear to decide what she wished to do; but the stranger was not easy to fight.†
Chpt 2.8
- She swung her cane and tossed it contemptuously into the car.†
Chpt 3.2contemptuously = with disrespect
- She heard Francisco's contemptuous chuckle and the rush of his steps, she saw her door flung open, and she noticed dimly that it was Galt who closed it, leaving them alone.†
Chpt 3.2contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- The two boys had the open, joyous, friendly confidence of kittens who do not expect to get hurt, they had an innocently natural, non-boastful sense of their own value and as innocent a trust in any stranger's ability to recognize it, they had the eager curiosity that would venture anywhere with the certainty that life held nothing unworthy of or closed to discovery, and they looked as if, should they encounter malevolence, they would reject it contemptuously, not as dangerous, but as stupid, they would not accept it in bruised resignation as the law of existence, "They represent my particular career, Miss Taggart," said the young mother in answer to her comment, wrapping a loaf of fresh brea†
Chpt 3.2contemptuously = with disrespect
- But Galt understood; he glanced at her and the glance was part amusement, part contemptuous reproach.†
Chpt 3.2contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- He waved contemptuously at the dusty horizon of an empty prairie and at the three wooden grandstands.†
Chpt 3.3contemptuously = with disrespect
- The figure now slouching against the sky on the speakers platform, coiling itself about the microphone, talking in the bored, contemptuous tone of an off-color story, was Dr. Simon Pritchett.†
Chpt 3.3contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- The taxi driver gave a brief, contemptuous chuckle-and snapped the radio off.†
Chpt 3.3
- Thanks, bud said the beggar contemptuously, and walked away.†
Chpt 3.4contemptuously = with disrespect
- His lower lip swelled a little in a faint, contemptuous thrust.†
Chpt 3.4contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- He spoke little, but when he did, it was to snap decisively, with a contemptuous grin, "Pipe down, Jimmy!" or, "Nuts, Wes, you're talking through your hat!"†
Chpt 3.5
- "Come in, Jim," she said, turning contemptuously, walking into the living room.†
Chpt 3.7contemptuously = with disrespect
- She had not known that a face could age so greatly within the brief space of one year: the look of timeless energy, of boyish eagerness, was gone, and nothing remained of the face except the lines of contemptuous bitterness.†
Chpt 3.7contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- Two husky men walked by his sides; they were from the department of Morale Conditioning, but did not trouble to hide what method of conditioning they would welcome a chance to employ, "Just remember Mr. Thompson's orders," one of them told him contemptuously.†
Chpt 3.8contemptuously = with disrespect
- Dr. Stadler ordered contemptuously.†
Chpt 3.9
- He laughed in their faces, with bitterly incredulous contempt,
Chpt 3.9 *contempt = disrespect
- The mechanic was staring at Galt; he was holding Galt's glance-and even he was able to recognize the nature of the sparkle in the dark green eyes; it was a sparkle of contemptuous mockery.†
Chpt 3.9contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- His look of accusation, as he whirled to Rearden, broke against the faintly contemptuous reproof of Rearden's voice: "That's no way to guard a building-if this is what you allowed to happen.†
Chpt 3.10
- Rearden felt contempt for groups of that kind and saw no reason for a closer inquiry into their nature.†
Chpt 1.2
- But an almost unendurable contempt made him close his eyes, instead.†
Chpt 1.2
- Through the years of her childhood, Dagny lived in the future-in the world she expected to find, where she would not have to feel contempt or boredom.†
Chpt 1.5
- Jim's smile had a touch of triumph, the triumph of finding cause to feel contempt.†
Chpt 1.5
- Approaching Lillian once more, Rearden said without anger, the contempt becoming amusement in his voice, "I didn't know you knew that one.†
Chpt 1.6
- There had been a faint tone of amusement in Rearden's voice; now it hardened into a hint of contempt.†
Chpt 1.6
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."