Contemptuous is applied to that which indicates contempts; as, a contemptuous look; a contemptuous remark; contemptuous treatment. A person, or whatever is personal, as an action, an expression, a feeling, an opinion, may be either contemptuous or contemptible; a thing may be contemptible, but can not be contemptuous.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Example sentences

insulting The word fugusha ("disabled") might be insulting.
derisive His derisive laughter made me think that I was wrong.
disdainful Dan isn't an arrogant and disdainful guy.
scornful Everybody is fed up with Dan's scornful attitude.
disparaging She made many disparaging comments on Twitter.
slighting Tom started slighting his studies after he became a member of the football team.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
contemptuous		steady
insulting		rising
derisive		rising
disdainful		rising
scornful		rising
disparaging		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: low¹
6 letters: slight¹
7 letters: abusive³, haughty²
8 letters: arrogant³, cavalier³, insolent³, derisive³, scornful², derisory
9 letters: insulting³, slighting²
10 letters: dismissive³, disdainful³, scurrilous³, derogative
11 letters: disparaging⁴, reproachful
12 letters: supercilious⁵, vituperative⁵, contumelious
13 letters: disrespectful⁴, condescending⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (abusive³ = 3 syllables).

In other languages

Français: méprisant