INSULT

insult, affront

(noun) a deliberately offensive act or something producing the effect of deliberate disrespect; “turning his back on me was a deliberate insult”

abuse, insult, revilement, contumely, vilification

(noun) a rude expression intended to offend or hurt; “when a student made a stupid mistake he spared them no abuse”; “they yelled insults at the visiting team”

diss, insult, affront

(verb) treat, mention, or speak to rudely; “He insulted her with his rude remarks”; “the student who had betrayed his classmate was dissed by everyone”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

insult (third-person singular simple present insults, present participle insulting, simple past and past participle insulted)

(transitive) To be insensitive, insolent, or rude to (somebody); to affront or demean (someone). [from 17th c.]

Synonym: Thesaurus:offend

Antonym: compliment

(transitive, also, figuratively, obsolete) To assail, assault, or attack; (specifically, military) to carry out an assault, attack, or onset without preparation.

(intransitive, obsolete) To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (against or over someone). [16th–19th c.]

(intransitive, obsolete, rare) To leap or trample upon.

Noun

insult (countable and uncountable, plural insults)

(uncountable) Action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude; (countable) a particular act or statement having this effect.

Synonyms: affront, diss (slang), insultation (obsolete), offence (Britain), offense (US), pejorative, slam (US, colloquial), slight, slur, Thesaurus:offense

Antonym: compliment

(countable) Something that causes offence (for example, by being of an unacceptable quality).

Synonyms: disgrace, outrage

(countable, medicine) Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes; the injury so caused.

(countable, also, figuratively, archaic) An assault or attack; (specifically, military, obsolete) an assault, attack, or onset carried out without preparation.

(countable, obsolete) An act of leaping upon.

Anagrams

• sunlit, unlist, unslit

Source: Wiktionary


In"sult, n. Etym: [L. insultus, fr. insilire to leap upon: cf. F. insulte. See Insult, v. t.]

1. The act of leaping on; onset; attack. [Obs.] Dryden.

2. Gross abuse offered to another, either by word or act; an act or speech of insolence or contempt; an affront; an indignity. The ruthless sneer that insult adds to grief. Savage.

Syn.

– Affront; indignity; abuse; outrage; contumely. See Affront.

In*sult", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Insulted; p. pr. & vb. n. Insulting.] Etym: [F. insulter, L. insultare, freq. fr. insilire to leap into or upon; pref. in- in, on + salire to leap. See Salient.]

1. To leap or trample upon; to make a sudden onset upon. [Obs.] Shak.

2. To treat with abuse, insolence, indignity, or contempt, by word or action; to abuse; as, to call a man a coward or a liar, or to sneer at him, is to insult him.

In*sult", v. i.

1. To leap or jump. Give me thy knife, I will insult on him. Shak. Like the frogs in the apologue, insulting upon their wooden king. Jer. Taylor.

2. To behave with insolence; to exult. [Archaic] The lion being dead, even hares insult. Daniel. An unwillingness to insult over their helpless fatuity. Landor.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

23 November 2024

THEORETICAL

(adjective) concerned primarily with theories or hypotheses rather than practical considerations; “theoretical science”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, on 25 September 2016, the Birla Institute of Management Technology (India) in Uttar Pradesh, India, constructed the largest coffee cups pyramid consisting of 23,821 cups. They used paper takeaway coffee cups to build the pyramid.

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