---
title: contemn — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «contemn» in the school dictionary: To look down on something as worthless; to scorn or despise it. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# contemn

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**Who acts:** you, they, proud king, people, others · **What happens:** look down, scorn, despise, not contemn, help, contemn · **To what, where:** it, small, you, advice, others

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«contemn» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [contemn in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/contemn.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .note -->
Usage: old use — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To look down on something as worthless; to scorn or despise it.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contemn:m1:1
# text = To look down on something as worthless; to scorn or despise it.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
3	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obl	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	worthless	worthless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	scorn	scorn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	despise	despise	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look down** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | on something | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on something=Theme |
| 2 | **scorn** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **despise** | infinitive |  | it |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Do not contemn the small and humble, for they may help you.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contemn:x1:1
# text = Do not contemn the small and humble, for they may help you.
1	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	contemn	contemn	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	humble	humble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **contemn** | imperative · do-support | you *not said here* | the small |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **help** | may | they |  | you |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Beneficiary |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The proud king contemned his people's advice.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contemn:x2:1
# text = The proud king contemned his people's advice.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	proud	proud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	contemned	contemn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	advice	advice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contemn** | past | the proud king | king's people's advice |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some people contemn others who are weaker than they are.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contemn:x3:1
# text = Some people contemn others who are weaker than they are.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	contemn	contemn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	weaker	weak	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contemn** | present | some people | others |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | others |  |  |  |  | weak *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **does** | present | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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- ← previous: [contamination](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contamination/)
- next →: [contemplate](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/contemplate/)
- ↑ back to [C in school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/)