different between disrepute vs contumely

English

Etymology

dis- +? repute

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d?s???pju?t/
• Rhymes: -u?t

Noun

disrepute (uncountable)

1. Loss or want of reputation; ill character.

   Synonyms: disesteem, discredit

   • 1815, Sir Walter Scott, Guy Mannering

     The belief in astrology was almost universal in the middle of the seventeenth century; it began to waver and become doubtful towards the close of that period, and in the beginning of the eighteenth the art fell into general disrepute, and even under general ridicule.

Usage notes

Often used in the construction be in disrepute, bring someone (or something) into disrepute or fall into disrepute.

Translations

Verb

disrepute (third-person singular simple present disreputes, present participle disreputing, simple past and past participle disreputed)

1. To bring into disrepute; to hold in dishonor.

Translations

Anagrams

• redispute, superdiet, supertide

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.