| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| disdain |
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| SYLLABICATION: | dis·dain |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  d s-d n |
| TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: dis·dained, dis·dain·ing, dis·dains
1. To regard or treat with haughty contempt; despise. See synonyms at despise. 2. To consider or reject as beneath oneself. | | NOUN: | A feeling or show of contempt and aloofness; scorn. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English disdeinen, from Old French desdeignier, from Vulgar Latin *disdignre, from Latin d dignr : d-, de- + dignr, to deem worthy (from dignus, worthy; see dek- in Appendix I).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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