All 9 Uses of

contempt
in
Interview with the Vampire

Behind all this contemptuous dismissal on my part was a smoldering anger and a disappointment.†
Part 1

contemptuous = showing a lack of respect

His contemptuous attitude towards my brother reflected my own; his immediate and shallow carping about the devil; his refusal to even entertain the idea that sanctity had passed so close.†
Part 1 *

As we sat at the table in the parlor, Lestat dealing a game of solitaire on the polished wood, I sat there staring at him with contempt.†
Part 1

To glut himself upon the life of an entire family was to me Lestat's supreme act of utter contempt and disregard for all he should have seen with a vampire's depth.†
Part 1

When he spoke, often she Â° 't answer him, and one could hardly tell if it was contempt or that she didn't hear...And our fragile domestic tranquility erupted with his outrage.†
Part 1

Celeste, with her cold hand on my arm, spoke with contempt of men as the originators of these pictures, and Estelle, who now held Claudia on her lap, emphasized to me, the naive colonial, that vampires had not made such horrors themselves but merely collected them, confirming over and over that men were capable of far greater evil than vampires.†
Part 3

They will attack you as if you were human' "Celeste shuddered, uttering something in contempt, an aristocrat speaking of vulgar cousins who bear the same name.†
Part 3

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 disgust

A 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 body

Formally, this is called "contempt of court," but it is often shortened as just "contempt."