- Deserving of contempt; despicable.
- Obsolete. Contemptuous.
contemptibly con·tempt'i·bly adv.
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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.
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adjective
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
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