contemn

Verb

contemn (third-person singular simple present contemns, present participle contemning, simple past and past participle contemned)

1. (dated, transitive) To disdain; to value at little or nothing; to treat or regard with contempt.
   • The subject of the following History [...] is the unhappy Lives, and untimely Deaths, of that Unfortunate English King Edward the Second, and his two Favourites Gaveston and Spencer; for his immoderate love to whom, (Says Dr. Heylin) he was hated by the Nobles, and contemned by the Commons.c. 1620s, Elizabeth Cary [misattributed to Henry Cary], “The Preface”, in The History Of the most unfortunate Prince King Edward II. […] , London: A.G. and F. P., published 1680, page A3, verso
   • The change which had so suddenly elevated Charles Stuart to the throne of his ancestors, and, from a poor, wandering, and powerless exile, made him one of Europe's most powerful monarchs, had taken the various courts where he had sojourned, neglected, if not contemned, completely by surprise.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 171
2. To commit an offence of contempt, such as contempt of court; to unlawfully flout (e.g. a ruling).