despisable

English

Alternative forms

• despiseable

Etymology

From Middle English despisable, from Old French.

Adjective

despisable (comparative more despisable, superlative most despisable)

1. (archaic) Worthy to be despised.
   • c. 1530, uncredited translator, The Dialoges of Creatures Moralysed, Dialogue 110,^[1]

     And forasmoche as we be so Noble of owr natyf kynde / let vs pursewe such beastis as be vyle & despisable.

   • 1641, Manasseh ben Israel, To His Highnesse the Lord Protector of the Common-wealth […] in behalfe of the Jewish Nation‎^[2], London, page 5:

     the Jewish Nation, though scattered through the whole World, are not therefore a despisable people, but as a Plant worthy to be planted in the whole world

   • 1741, Samuel Richardson, Letters Written To and For Particular Friends: on the Most Important Occasions‎^[3], London: C. Rivington, Letter 146, p. 203:

     […] Meekness, Condescension, Forbearance, are so far from being despisable Qualities in our Sex, that they are the Glory of it.

   • 1821, James Fenimore Cooper, The Spy, London: G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1822, Volume 1, Chapter 11, p. 297,^[4]

     “but now he is nothing more than despisable, or what’s the same thing, a pedlar without house, pack, or money.”

Synonyms

• contemptible, despicable.

Derived terms

• despisableness