---
title: contemptuous — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «contemptuous» in the school dictionary: Showing that you think someone or something is worthless or beneath you; scornful. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# contemptuous

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**Who acts:** you, Showing, He, my, She, bully · **What happens:** show, think, be, give, draw, not be · **To what, where:** someone, contemptuous sneer, drawing, contemptuous remark · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«contemptuous» 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: [contemptuous in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/contemptuous.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Showing that you think someone or something is worthless or beneath you; scornful.

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contemptuous:m1:1
# text = Showing that you think someone or something is worthless or beneath you; scornful.
1	Showing	show	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	csubj	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	1	ccomp	_	_
5	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	conj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	worthless	worthless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	beneath	beneath	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
14	scornful	scornful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | present | you | someone |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot someone=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | Showing |  |  |  |  | worthless *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | Showing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
He gave a contemptuous sneer at my drawing.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contemptuous:x1:1
# text = He gave a contemptuous sneer at my drawing.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	contemptuous	contemptuous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	sneer	sneer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	drawing	drawing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | He | a contemptuous sneer |  | my drawing |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent sneer=Theme at drawing=Asset |
| 2 | **draw** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom drawing «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was contemptuous of anyone who was not rich.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contemptuous:x2:1
# text = She was contemptuous of anyone who was not rich.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	contemptuous	contemptuous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	obl	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | She |  |  |  |  | of anyone; contemptuous *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | rich *property* | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bully made a contemptuous remark about my shoes.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contemptuous:x3:1
# text = The bully made a contemptuous remark about my shoes.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bully	bully	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	contemptuous	contemptuous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	remark	remark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | the bully | a contemptuous remark |  |  |  | about my shoes | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset remark=Product |

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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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