Dictionary:

contemptible

  (kən-tĕmp'tə-bəl)

1. Deserving of contempt; despicable.
2. Obsolete. Contemptuous.

Is President Bush's new domestic policy advisor, Karl Zinsmeister, piquant (appealingly provocative) or full of contempt? Depends on how you spin it. Recently, reporter Helen Thomas asked White House press secretary Tony Snow:

"Why did the President pick a man who is so contemptible of the public servants in Washington to be his Domestic Advisor -- saying, 'People in Washington are morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human beings'? Why would he pick such a man to be a Domestic Advisor?"

The press secretary corrected the doyenne's vocabulary, then zinged her back:

"You meant contemptuous, as opposed to contemptible, I think... [Zinsmeister] is somebody who expresses himself with a certain amount of piquancy -- you're perhaps familiar with that, aren't you, Helen?"

Link: Press Briefing by Tony Snow

Posted June 6, 2006.

See our Word Overheard blog to see interesting uses of strange words.

adjective

So objectionable as to elicit despisal or deserve condemnation: abhorrent, abominable, antipathetic, despicable, despisable, detestable, disgusting, filthy, foul, infamous, loathsome, lousy, low, mean, nasty, nefarious, obnoxious, odious, repugnant, rotten, shabby, vile, wretched. See good/bad.

Definition: despicable, shameful
Antonyms: admirable, admired, good, honorable, loved, respectable, worthy

The adjective has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: deserving of contempt or scorn
  Antonym: estimable (meaning #1)

Meaning #2: worthy only of being despised and rejected
  Synonym: despicable