Synonyms for despise
Synonyms by meaning
Verb
1. Hate — to regard with contempt or scorn
hate, loathe, disdain, detest, scorn, abhor, spurn, reject, hold in contempt, slight, look down on, contemn, scout, abominate, laugh to scorn dated
Definitions
- v. 1
To regard with contempt or scorn.
Katie despised video games because she saw them as a trashy, boring waste of time.
- v. 2
To disregard or ignore.
Related words
- Word family
- despicable despisal despisement despiser despite
- Is a kind of
- look down on deprecate
Forms
- Past participle
- despised
e.g. despised → hated, loathed, disdained, detested…
Choose the right word
Abhor is stronger than despise, implying a shuddering recoil, especially a moral recoil. We abhor a traitor, despise a coward, detest a liar.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- hate All the members of the committee hate one another.
- disdain Tom didn't notice the look of disdain on Mary's face.
- loathe I loathe Tom even more for what he has done to Mary.
- detest I don’t like Tom very much; in fact, I detest him.
- ignore If you ignore the past, you jeopardize the future.
- disregard Tom showed reckless disregard for Mary's feelings.
By length
- 4 letters
- hate1
- 5 letters
- scout1, scorn1, abhor2, spurn1
- 6 letters
- ignore2, slight1, reject2, loathe1, detest2
- 7 letters
- neglect2, disdain2, contemn2
- 8 letters
- discount2, overlook3
- 9 letters
- disregard3, abominate, misregard
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (abhor2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- mépriser
- Italiano
- disprezzare
- Español
- despreciar
- Deutsch
- verachten