despise
/dɪˈspaɪz/
despise verb: to regard with contempt or scorn.
Verb
despise (third-person singular simple present despises, present participle despising, simple past and past participle despised)
despise meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
despise in Hindi
- to regard with contempt or scorn
- उपेक्षा करना upekṣā karnā
despise in Tamil
- to regard with contempt or scorn
- இகழ் ikaḻ, வெறு veṟu
despise in Urdu
- گھٹیا جاننا, جوتی پر مارنا, نفرت کرنا, ذلیل سمجھنا
despise in Bengali
- ঘৃণা করা, অবজ্ঞা করা
More languagesFewer languages
- despise in Telugu
- ఉపేక్షించు upēkṣiñcu
- despise in Malayalam
- അവജ്ഞ avajña
- despise in Kannada
- ಅಳಿಗೊಳ್ಳು, ಕಡೆಗಣಿಸು, ಜಂಕಿಸು, ತಿರಸ್ಕಾರದಿಂದ ನೋಡು
- despise in Sanskrit
- कुत्स् kuts
- despise in Arabic
- اِحْتَقَرَ iḥtaqara, أَهَانَ ʔahāna
- despise in Persian
- خوار شمردن xwâr šemordan
Examples of despise in a sentence
- They despise each other, but they are always civil in public.
- To individuals who despise killings in any form, death penalty is undue punishment.
- She realized to her horror that she had unwittingly helped those people she most despised.
Synonyms of despise
19 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
10 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of despise
| third-person singular present | despises |
|---|---|
| present participle | despising |
| past participle | despised |
| past | despised |
| alternative form (obsolete) | dispise |
Origin of despise
From Middle English despisen, from Old French despis-, stem of despire, from Latin dēspicere (“to look down upon, despise, scorn”), from dē (“down”) + speciō (“to look at”). Displaced native Old English forsēon.
Words formed from despise
Words that rhyme with despise
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- arise
- capsize
- comprise
- guise
- revise
- abscise
- agrise
- apprise
- chastise
- flys
- guys
- lyse
- palatalize
- pies
- prise
- skies
- snies
- sties
- supplies
- surmise
- ties
- tries
- velarize
- aguise
- applies
- authorize
- ayes
- belies
- brise
- buys
- byes
- complies
- cries
- dies
- dries
- dyes
- excise
- eyes
- flies
- flyes
- four eyes
- frankenpies
- fries
- Frise
- hies
- highs
- home fries
- i's
Questions about despise
- What does despise mean?
- Despise means to regard with contempt or scorn.
- What is despise in Hindi?
- Despise in Hindi is उपेक्षा करना (upekṣā karnā). See Despise meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is despise?
- Despise is a verb.
- How do you pronounce despise?
- Despise is pronounced /dɪˈspaɪz/.
- What is the past tense of despise?
- The past tense of despise is despised.
Words near despise in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: despise (page history and authors); despise (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Despise (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ఉపేక్షించు (Telugu) (page history and authors); അവജ്ഞ (Malayalam) (page history and authors); despise (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कुत्स् (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-despise.ogg.
Cite this entry: “despise.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/despise. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.