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# scornful

«scornful» in Mova's school dictionary: **Showing that you think someone or something is worthless…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (scornful, more scornful, most scornful)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Showing that you think someone or something is worthless, silly or not good enough. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#m1)

2) A scornful look, laugh or voice is one that mocks or looks down on someone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

A feelings and character word in stories: it tells the reader a character feels superior and does not respect someone. Writers pair it with a look, laugh, voice or glance: «a scornful laugh», «scornful of». In Alice in Wonderland many creatures are scornful of Alice, like the Caterpillar who asks «You! Who are you?» in a scornful tone; in The Wind in the Willows the weasels are scornful of the animals of the river bank until Badger returns. In everyday life being scornful hurts people and is a kind of rudeness.

### examples

- She gave a scornful laugh when he said he could beat her at chess. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#x1)
- «You call that a sandcastle?» said Tom in a scornful voice. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#x2)
- The Caterpillar looked at Alice in a scornful way. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#x3)
- Don't be scornful of other people's ideas; listen first. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#x4)
- The older girls were scornful of the little ones' game. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#x5)
- He was scornful of anyone who supported the other football team. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#x6)
- Her scornful glance made him feel very small. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#x7)
- One day as the Lion walked proudly down a forest aisle, and the animals respectfully made way for him, an Ass brayed a scornful remark as he passed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/#x8)

### note

Adjective; the noun is «scorn» and the adverb «scornfully». «Scornful of something» means looking down on it. Do not mix up with «scorn» used as a verb: «She scorned the offer». Opposite: respectful, admiring.

### In the corpora

- [Scornful men set a city in a blaze; but wise men turn away wrath.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/jps/PRO.840/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «scornful» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/scornful/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.