different between misprize vs vilipend

English

Alternative forms

• mesprise
• misprise

Etymology

From Middle French mespriser (verb), mespris (noun).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /m?s?p???z/ (verb)

Verb

misprize (third-person singular simple present misprizes, present participle misprizing, simple past and past participle misprized)

1. To despise or hold in contempt; to undervalue. [from 15th c.]
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, First Folio 1621, III.1:

     Nature neuer fram'd a womans heart,

     Of prowder stuffe then that of Beatrice:

     Disdaine and Scorne ride sparkling in her eyes,

     Mis-prizing what they looke on […].

Noun

misprize (uncountable)

1. (obsolete, rare) Contempt. [16th-19th c.]
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.9:

     He ment to make them know their follies prise, / Had not those two him instantly desired / T'asswage his wrath, and pardon their mesprise […].

Related terms

• misprision

English

Etymology

From Middle English vilipenden (“to treat (something) as contemptible”) [and other forms], from Old French vilipender (modern French vilipender (“to condemn, despise, revile, scorn, vilipend, vilify”)), or its etymon Latin vilipend?, from v?lis (“cheap, inexpensive; base, mean, vile, worthless”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to buy, sell”)) + pend? (“to hang, suspend; to weigh, weigh out; (figuratively) to consider, ponder”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”)). The English word is cognate with Italian vilipendere (“to despise, scorn, vilipend”), Portuguese vilipendiar (“to vilify”), Spanish vilipendiar (“to vilify”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?v?l?p?nd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?v?l??p?nd/
• Hyphenation: vi?li?pend

Verb

vilipend (third-person singular simple present vilipends, present participle vilipending, simple past and past participle vilipended)

1. (transitive, dated, formal) To treat (something) as inconsequential or worthless; to despise, to look down on.

   Synonyms: belittle, contemn, misprize, slight

2. (transitive, dated, formal) To express a disparaging opinion of; to slander or vilify.

   Synonyms: abuse, disparage, derogate; see also Thesaurus:defame

   • 1853, July 10. "Evil Birds", The Colonist (Nelson, New Zealand): page 4:

     But we desire, most unhesitatingly to condemn and vilipend a system of continual abuse, intended to fall upon the provincial Government, but in reality reaching and injuring the public at large.

   • 1917, O. W. Firkins, The Nation, The Nation Company, page 176:

     But, for all their feint of nonchalance, these young persons have no other task in life but to explain and extol their own conduct and to vilipend their critics and opponents.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• vilipended (adjective)
• vilipender
• vilipending (adjective, noun)

Related terms

• vilification
• vilifier
• vilify

Translations

References