despise
Other forms: despised; despising; despises
If the mere thought of a burrito with sour cream in it turns your stomach, you could say that you despise sour cream. You loathe it, abhor it, hate it, and think it's vile.
Despise dates all the way back to the Latin word despicare, which combines de "down" with specere "to look at." So if you look down your nose at something, you could say you despise it. Nowadays the word gets used a lot to describe things people really, really dislike, too. Note how similar in meaning and spelling despise is to Sylvester the cartoon cat's old favorite catchphrase despicable. Despicable means something worth of being despised.
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look down on with disdain
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Vocabulary lists containing despise
In this classic coming-of-age story, Scout Finch recounts her childhood in Maycomb, Alabama. When Scout's father is appointed to defend a black man in a high-profile trial, racial tensions in the small town come to a head. Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–11, Chapters 12–15, Chapters 16–19, Chapters 20–25, Chapters 26–31 Here is a link to our lists for Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Jess and Leslie spend their free time playing in the fantasy land of Terabithia; but when tragedy strikes, one of them will have to learn to cope with loss in the real world.
Each week, students in a high school English class step up to the mic to share original poems.