All 42 Uses of
contempt
in
The Fountainhead
- It had high cheekbones over gaunt, hollow cheeks; gray eyes, cold and steady; a contemptuous mouth, shut tight, the mouth of an executioner or a saint.†
Chpt 1.1contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- Cameron would turn away without a word, his narrowed eyes underscoring contemptuously the fact that he considered an answer unnecessary, and would leave the drafting room.†
Chpt 1.4contemptuously = with disrespect
- Roark's eyes were not contemptuous; only a little wider than usual, attentive and puzzled.†
Chpt 1.5contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- He had had time to see her eyes; they seemed weary and a little contemptuous, but they left him with a sense of cold cruelty.†
Chpt 1.9
- She smiled contemptuously.†
Chpt 2.1 *contemptuously = with disrespect
- But the act of a master taking shameful, contemptuous possession of her was the kind of rapture she had wanted.†
Chpt 2.2contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- The too innocent, too trifling manner in which he repeated the name, with the faint, contemptuous question mark quite audible at the end, made Keating certain that Toohey knew the name well.†
Chpt 2.4
- Gail Wynand had explained, in a slow, contemptuous voice, that the Little Plug-Uglies, farther down the river, had tried the same stunt last week and had left six members in the hands of the cops, plus two in the cemetery; the job had to be done at daybreak, when no one would expect it.†
Chpt 3.1
- She said contemptuously: "Don't show that you're shocked, Ellsworth."†
Chpt 3.2contemptuously = with disrespect
- Fougler's glance was contemptuous when turned to the others, but it relaxed for a moment of understanding when it rested on Toohey.†
Chpt 3.6contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- The smile was amused, astonished, involuntarily contemptuous.†
Chpt 4.2
- "It's not a contradiction," Mitchell Layton drawled contemptuously.†
Chpt 4.6contemptuously = with disrespect
- Wynand had shrugged about it, contemptuously amused.†
Chpt 4.9
- We'll see," said Wynand contemptuously—and continued his private crusade.†
Chpt 4.9
- They were flat, brown oxfords, offensively competent, too well shined on the muddy pavement, contemptuous of rain and of beauty.†
Chpt 4.10contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- But this—this amused tolerance seemed to admit that romance was only human, one had to take it, like everybody else, it was a popular weakness of no great consequence—she was gratified as she would have been gratified by the same words from any other man—it was like that red-enamel Mexican on her lapel, a contemptuous concession to people's demand of vanity.†
Chpt 4.10
- He glanced about him, cautiously at first, then with curiosity, then with pleasure, then with contempt.†
Chpt 1.3
- Francon saw two eyes looking at him with immense approval—and two bright little points of contempt in the corners of Keating's mouth, like two musical notes of laughter visible the second before they were to be heard.†
Chpt 1.4
- The comfort came from the contempt.†
Chpt 1.4
- Then he leaned forward, his mouth drawn thin in contempt: "Okay.†
Chpt 1.5
- She said it quite correctly; there was nothing offensive in the quiet politeness of her voice; but following his high note of enthusiasm, her voice struck a tone that seemed flat and deadly in its indifference—as if the two sounds mingled into an audible counterpoint around the melodic thread of her contempt.†
Chpt 1.10
- Dominique turned to Keating with a glance so gentle that it could mean nothing but contempt.†
Chpt 1.12
- It gave him a strange, hard pleasure to watch his fight against it, and he could forget that it was his own suffering; he could smile in contempt, not realizing that he smiled at his own agony.†
Chpt 2.1
- She saw his mouth and the silent contempt in the shape of his mouth; the planes of his gaunt, hollow cheeks; the cold, pure brilliance of the eyes that had no trace of pity.†
Chpt 2.1
- It was an act that could be performed in tenderness, as a seal of love, or in contempt, as a symbol of humiliation and conquest.†
Chpt 2.2
- He has such a love for facts and such contempt for commentaries.†
Chpt 2.6
- He remembered the indifferent calm of her insults to him—the utter contempt of insults delivered without anger.†
Chpt 2.8
- He was helpful and dependable when they needed assistance with their lessons; he had a sharp wit and could ruin any child by the apt nickname he coined, the kind that hurt; he drew devastating cartoons on fences; he had all the earmarks of a sissy, but somehow he could not be classified as one; he had too much self-assurance and quiet, disturbingly wise contempt for everybody.†
Chpt 2.9
- Only when you can feel contempt for your own priceless little ego, only then can you achieve the true, broad peace of selflessness, the merging of your spirit with the vast collective spirit of mankind.†
Chpt 2.9
- Because your figures are more devoid of contempt for humanity than any work I've ever seen.†
Chpt 2.11
- "Maybe," he muttered, "maybe it's because it has never seemed right that you should have such contempt for his work.†
Chpt 2.11
- I suppose it's because you have such contempt for me that nothing I say can make any difference.†
Chpt 2.12
- He felt only a furious contempt for himself, for Pat Mulligan, for all integrity; he felt shame when he thought of those whose victims he and Mulligan had been willing to become.†
Chpt 3.1
- You want—men do that sometimes, not women—to express through the sexual act your utter contempt for me.†
Chpt 3.3
- Do you see the meaning of a quest for self-contempt?†
Chpt 3.3
- They make some sort of feeble stew out of sympathy, compassion, contempt and general indifference, and they call it love.†
Chpt 3.4
- He said, smiling: "And so, you came to me and said 'You're the vilest person on earth—take me so that I'll learn self-contempt.†
Chpt 3.4
- You've chosen me as the symbol of your contempt for men.†
Chpt 3.4
- Yet he did not seem to share her contempt for his papers.†
Chpt 3.8
- In his youth he had felt an amicable contempt for the works of Guy Francon or Ralston Holcombe, and emulating them had seemed no more than innocent quackery.†
Chpt 4.7
- I had not reached a degree of contempt for society such as would have permitted me to consider him dangerous.†
Chpt 4.15
- It will be contempt, but it will come from her and it will be a bond.†
Chpt 4.17
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."