different between contumely vs contumacious

English

Etymology

From Old French contumelie, from Latin contum?lia (“insult”), perhaps from com- + tume? (“swell”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?ntju?m?li/

Noun

contumely (countable and uncountable, plural contumelies)

1. Offensive and abusive language or behaviour; scorn, insult.

   • For who would beare the Whips and Scornes of time, The Oppressors wrong, the poore mans Contumely [...]

   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, Volume the Second, page 19 ?ISBN

     She had been subjected to contumely and cross-questoning and ill-usage through the whole evening.

   • 1953, James Strachey, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Avon Books, p. 178:

     If this picture of the two psychical agencies and their relation to the consciousness is accepted, there is a complete analogy in political life to the extraordinary affection which I felt in my dream for my friend R., who was treated with such contumely during the dream's interpretation.

Related terms

• contumacious
• contumaciously
• contumaciousness
• contumacy
• contumelious

Translations

Further reading

• “contumely”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

English

Etymology

From Latin contum?x (“stubborn, obstinate”)

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: con?tu?ma?cious
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?n.tj??me?.??s/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k??n.t??me?.??s/, /?k??n.tj??me?.??s/
• Rhymes: -e???s

Adjective

contumacious (comparative more contumacious, superlative most contumacious)

1. Contemptuous of authority; willfully disobedient; rebellious.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes” in The Poetical Works of John Milton, volume 4 (edited by Henry John Todd; published in 1801), page 505:

     The queen hears of it; takes occa?ion to pa??e wher he is, on purpo?e, that, under prætense of recon?iling to him, or ?eeking to draw a kind retractation from him of the cen?ure on the marriage; to which end ?he ?ends a courtier before, to ?ound whether he might be per?uaded to mitigate his ?entence; which not finding, ?he her?elf craftily a??ays; and, on his con?tancie, ?ounds an accu?ation to Herod of a contumacious affront, on ?uch a day, before many peers; præpares the king to ?ome pa??ion, and at la?t, by her daughter’s dancing, effects it.

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution, Book 2.V:

     In all places too are Dissident Priests; whom the Legislative will have to deal with: contumacious individuals, working on that angriest of passions; plotting, enlisting.

2. (law) Willfully disobedient to the summons or orders of a court.

Synonyms

• (contemptuous of authority): disobedient, insubordinate, obstinate, perverse, rebellious, stubborn

Related terms

• contumaciously
• contumaciousness
• contumacy
• contumely

Translations