Search Result for "contempt": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (4)

1. lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike;
- Example: "he was held in contempt"
- Example: "the despite in which outsiders were held is legendary"
[syn: contempt, disdain, scorn, despite]

2. a manner that is generally disrespectful and contemptuous;
[syn: contempt, disrespect]

3. open disrespect for a person or thing;
[syn: contempt, scorn]

4. a willful disobedience to or disrespect for the authority of a court or legislative body;


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Contempt \Con*tempt"\ (k[o^]n*t[e^]mt"; 215), n. [L. contemptus, fr. contemnere: cf. OF. contempt. See Contemn.] 1. The act of contemning or despising; the feeling with which one regards that which is esteemed mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn. [1913 Webster] Criminal contempt of public feeling. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster] Nothing, says Longinus, can be great, the contempt of which is great. --Addison. [1913 Webster] 2. The state of being despised; disgrace; shame. [1913 Webster] Contempt and begarry hangs upon thy back. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 3. An act or expression denoting contempt. [1913 Webster] Little insults and contempts. --Spectator. [1913 Webster] The contempt and anger of his lip. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. (Law) Disobedience of the rules, orders, or process of a court of justice, or of rules or orders of a legislative body; disorderly, contemptuous, or insolent language or behavior in presence of a court, tending to disturb its proceedings, or impair the respect due to its authority. [1913 Webster] Note: Contempt is in some jurisdictions extended so as to include publications reflecting injuriously on a court of justice, or commenting unfairly on pending proceedings; in other jurisdictions the courts are prohibited by statute or by the constitution from thus exercising this process. Syn: Disdain; scorn; derision; mockery; contumely; neglect; disregard; slight. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

contempt n 1: lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike; "he was held in contempt"; "the despite in which outsiders were held is legendary" [syn: contempt, disdain, scorn, despite] 2: a manner that is generally disrespectful and contemptuous [syn: contempt, disrespect] 3: open disrespect for a person or thing [syn: contempt, scorn] 4: a willful disobedience to or disrespect for the authority of a court or legislative body
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

126 Moby Thesaurus words for "contempt": abhorrence, abjuration, abjurement, affront, antipathy, arrogance, aspersion, atrocity, audacity, aversion, bold front, boldness, brash bearing, brashness, brassiness, bravado, brazenfacedness, brazenness, brickbat, bumptiousness, cheekiness, chucking, chucking out, cockiness, contemptuousness, contradiction, contumacy, contumely, cut, daring, daringness, declination, declining, defial, defiance, defying, denial, denigration, deprecation, depreciation, derision, despisal, despising, despite, disapproval, discard, disclamation, discommendation, discounting, discredit, disdain, disesteem, disfavor, disgust, dishonor, dismissal, disownment, disparagement, dispraise, disregard, disrepute, disrespectfulness, distaste, disvaluation, dump, enormity, exception, exclusion, face of brass, flippancy, flout, flouting, freshness, gibe, hate, hatred, humiliation, ignominy, ignoring, impertinence, impudence, indignity, infamy, injury, insolence, insult, jeer, jeering, loathing, mock, mockery, nonacceptance, nonapproval, nonconsideration, odium, offense, opprobrium, outrage, passing by, pertness, put-down, putting away, putting out, rebuff, recalcitrance, recantation, refusal, rejection, renouncement, repudiation, repugnance, repulse, ridicule, rudeness, sauciness, scoff, scorn, scouting, scurrility, shame, spurning, stubbornness, taunt, throwing out, turning out, uncomplimentary remark
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

CONTEMPT, crim. law. A willful disregard or disobedience of a public authority. 2. By the Constitution of the United States, each house of congress may determine the rules of its proceeding's, punish its members for disorderly behaviour, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. The same provision is substantially contained in the constitutions of the several states. 3. The power to make rules carries that of enforcing them, and to attach persons who violate them, and punish them for contempts. This power of punishing for contempts, is confined to punishment during the session of the legislature, and cannot extend beyond it; 6 Wheat. R. 204, 230, 231 and, it seems this power cannot be exerted beyond imprisonment. 4. Courts of justice have an inherent power to punish all persons for contempt of their rules and orders, for disobedience of their process, and for disturbing them in their proceedings. Bac. Ab. Courts and their jurisdiction in general, E; Rolle's Ab. 219; 8 Co. 38 11 Co. 43 b.; 8 Shepl. 550; 5 Ired. R. 199. 5. In some states, as in Pennsylvania, the power to punish for contempts is restricted to offences committed by the officers of the court, or in its presence, or in disobedience of its mandates, orders, or rules; but no one is guilty of a contempt for any publication made or act done out of court, which is not in violation of such lawful rules or orders, or disobedience of its process. Similar provisions, limiting the power of the courts of the United States to punish for contempts, are incorporated in the Act March 2, 1831. 4 Sharsw. cont. of Stor. L. U. S. 2256. See Oswald's Case, 4 Lloyd's Debates, 141,. et seq. 6. When a person is in prison for a contempt, it has been decided in New York that he cannot be discharged by another judge, when brought before him on a habeas corpus; and, according to Chancellor Kent, 3 Com. 27, it belongs exclusively to the court offended to judge of contempts, and what amounts to them; and no other court or judge can, or ought to undertake, in a collateral way, to question or review an adjudication of a contempt made by another competent jurisdiction. This way be considered as the established doctrine equally in England as in this country. 3 Wils. 188 14 East, R. 12 Bay, R. 182 6 Wheat. R. 204 7 Wheat. R. 38; 1 Breese, R. 266 1 J. J. Marsh. 575; Charlt. R. 136; 1 Blackf. 1669 Johns. 395 6 John. 337.
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

CONTEMPT, n. The feeling of a prudent man for an enemy who is too formidable safely to be opposed.