contemptibleness

A person's contemptibleness is revealed through their cruel and selfish actions.

Definition

Noun: The quality or state of being contemptible — deserving contempt, scorn, or disdain; extreme worthlessness or meanness.

Usage Examples

• (The extreme unworthiness and despicability of his nature.)
• (The act was so base and shameful as to merit strong scorn.)

Advanced Usage

• "utter contemptibleness": used for emphasis, describing total and complete despicability.

  • The utter contemptibleness of the crime shocked the entire community. (The crime was so vile that it left no room for any redeeming quality.)

• "moral contemptibleness": specifically referring to ethical or moral degradation.

  • His moral contemptibleness was evident in his willingness to lie under oath. (His lack of ethical standards was clearly shown.)

Variants and Related Words

• Contemptible (adj): deserving contempt; despicable.

  • His contemptible behavior lost him all respect. (His actions were worthy of scorn.)

• Contemptibly (adv): in a manner that deserves contempt.

  • He acted contemptibly by stealing from the charity. (He behaved in a despicable way.)

• Contempt (n): the feeling that a person or thing is worthless or beneath consideration.

  • She looked at him with contempt. (With strong disapproval and scorn.)

Synonyms

• Despicableness: the quality of being deserving of hatred or contempt.
• Vileness: extreme wickedness or moral depravity.
• Baseness: lack of moral principles; dishonesty.
• Worthlessness: lack of value or merit.

Related Idioms

• "beneath contempt": so despicable as to not even be worthy of scorn.

  • His treatment of the animals was beneath contempt. (So bad that even contempt is too dignified a reaction.)

• "hold in contempt": to regard with disdain or scorn.

  • The judge held the lawyer in contempt for his disrespectful remarks. (The judge viewed the lawyer with strong disapproval.)