Con-tēmpt'ū-ous, a.

(-tĕmpt/yŭ-ŭs), a. Manifesting or expressing contempt or disdain; scornful; haughty; disdainful. “A proud, contemptuous behavior.” Hammond.

Oliver [Goldsmith]... never showed the least sign of that contemptuous antipathy with which, in his days, the ruling minority in Ireland too generally regarded the subject majority. Macaulay.

Synonyms—Scornful; insolent; haughty; disdainful; cavalier; supercilious; insulting; contumelious; affrontive; abusive; fastidious.—CONTEMPTUOUS, CONTEMPTIBLE. These words, from their similarity of sound, are sometimes erroneously interchanged, as when a person speaks of having “a very contemptible opinion of another.” Contemptible is applied to that which is the object of contempt; as, contemptible conduct, a contemptible fellow. Contemptuous is applied to that which indicates contempt; as, a contemptuous look, a contemptuous remark, contemptuous treatment. Hence we may speak of a thing (an observation, for example), as contemptuous or as contemptible; meaning in the former case that it expresses contempt, and in the latter case that it deserves contempt. “Rome, the proudest part of the heathen world, entertained the most contemptuous opinion of the Jews.” Atterbury.