insult

Verb

insult (third-person singular simple present insults, present participle insulting, simple past and past participle insulted)

1. (transitive) To be insensitive, insolent, or rude to (somebody); to affront or demean (someone).
   • - Marvel owns your gods!
     - Insulting is not arguing.
   • And why I pray you? who might be your mother
     That you inſult, exult, and all at once
     Ouer the wretched?c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

   Synonyms:

   disrespect, affront, disgrace, slander, discourtesy, offense

   Antonyms:

   compliment

2. (also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive) To assail, assault, or attack; (specifically, military) to carry out an assault, attack, or onset without preparation.
   • Giue me thy knife, I will inſult on him,
     Flattering my ſelfes, as if it were the Moore,
     Come hither purpoſely to poyſon me.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
   • Not with more madneſs, rolling from afar, / The ſpumy Waves proclaim the watry War. / And mounting upwards, with a mighty Roar, / March onwards, and inſult the rocky ſhoar.1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 107, lines...
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (against or over someone).
   • And doe you ſe how he inſulteth ouer me, as though hee had gotten a great aduantage, and how hee taketh heere his reuenge vpon me, for the ſhipwracke hee ſuffered before, in the matter of his ſyllogyſme?1609, “P. R.” [i.e., Robert Persons], “The First Chapter Ansvvering to the First of M. Thomas Mortons Three Vaine Inquiryes, Concerning the Witt, Memorie, Learning, Charitie, Modestie, and Truth of...
   • Now with the drops of this moſt balmie time, / My loue lookes freſh, and death to me ſubſcribes, / Since ſpight of him Ile liue in this poore time / While he inſults ore dull and ſpeachleſſe tribes.1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 107”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
4. (intransitive, obsolete, rare) To leap or trample upon.
   • So looks the pent-vp Lyon o're the Wretch, / That trembles vnder his deuouring Pawes: / And ſo he walkes, inſulting o're his Prey, / And ſo he comes, to rend his Limbes aſunder.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...

Noun

IPA/ˈɪnsʌlt/

insult (countable and uncountable, plural insults)

1. (uncountable) Action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude; (countable) a particular act or statement having this effect.
   • Preſent we meet thy ſneaking treacherous ſmiles;
     The harmleſs abſent ſtill thy ſneer reviles;
     Such as in thee all parts ſuperior find,
     The ſneer that marks the fool and knave combin'd;
     When melting pity would afford relief
     The ruthleſs ſneer that insult adds to grief.a. 1744, Richard Savage, “London and Bristol Delineated”, in Samuel Johnson, The Works of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland. […], volume V, Dublin: Printed for J. Moore, […], published 1800...
   • [...] I will, however, enjoin you / Never to submit tamely to insults from any one! for, although I strongly urge you to show every possible respect and deference to all who are your superiors, as indeed due to them, I wish you to remember that, should they return you insults for such consistent...1835, Lt. Col. Baron de Berenger [i.e., Charles Random, Baron de Bérenger Beaufain], “Letter XII. On Character Generally, and on Manliness Especially.”, in Helps and Hints How to Protect Life and...

   Synonyms:

   affront, diss, insultation, offence, offense, pejorative, slam, slight, slur, barb

   Antonyms:

   compliment

2. (countable) Something that causes offence (for example, by being of an unacceptable quality).
   • The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.
   • Such marriages he had held were insults to the manhood of any man and the womanhood of any woman. In such unions neither party could respect himself or his companion.1907 October, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “Red Godwyn”, in The Shuttle, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, →OCLC, page 348

   Synonyms:

   disgrace, outrage

3. Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes; the injury so caused.
   • The exact nature of the teratological insult in diabetic pregnancy, and the cell biological details of the induced disturbances, are not known.1996, Ulf J. Eriksson, “Embryo Development in Diabetic Pregnancy”, in Anne Dornhorst, David R. Hadden, editors, Diabetes and Pregnancy: An International Approach to Diagnosis and Management...
   • [M]ost investigators agreed with the characterization of early brain plasticity as a transiently available, ancillary system that is triggered by neural insult, and that serves, most importantly, as a means of shielding the developing organism from the potentially debilitating effects of neural...2006, Joan Stiles, Pamela Moses, Brianna M. Paul, “The Longitudinal Study of Spatial Cognitive Development in Children with Pre- or Perinatal Focal Brain Injury: […]”, in Stephen G. Lomber, Jos J....
4. (also, archaic, countable, figuratively) An assault or attack; (specifically, military, obsolete) an assault, attack, or onset carried out without preparation.
   • Then fir'd with pious Rage, the gen'rous Train / Run madly forward, to revenge the ſlain. / And ſome with eager haſte their Jav'lins throw; / And ſome, with Sword in hand, aſſault the Foe. / The wiſh'd Inſult the Latine Troops embrace; / And meet their Ardour in the middle Space.1697, Virgil, “The Twelfth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 590, lines...
   • The government was continually expoſed to the inſults of a faction, and deſtitute of the neceſſary reſources.1784, “From the Accession of James to the English Crown, to the Battle of Kilrush, in the Reign of Charles I”, in The History of Ireland, from the Earliest Authentic Accounts. […], Dublin: Printed...
5. (countable, obsolete) An act of leaping upon.
   • The Bull's Inſult at Four ſhe [the mother cow] may ſuſtain; / But, after Ten, from Nuptial Rites refrain. / Six Seaſons uſe; but then releaſe the Cow, / Unfit for Love, and for the lab'ring Plough.1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 99, lines...