From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdespisede‧spise /dɪˈspaɪz/ ●○○ verb [transitive] DON'T LIKEto dislike and have a low opinion of someone or something She despised her neighbours.► see thesaurus at hateGRAMMAR: Using the progressiveDespise is not used in the progressive. You say: I despise such ignorance. ✗Don’t say: I am despising such ignorance.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
despise• We become a piece of all that we despise.• For there her body lies, side by side with Carlisle Graham, a man she despised.• The Earth, and the Goddess, become fearful as well as despised.• No wonder Adam had seemed at times to hate her, certainly to despise her.• Not that I know much about him, just that my philosophical friend Kevin Rice despised him.• How I had despised his brutishness then, and how I longed for his toughness, his uncomplicated, animal certainty now.• Otis despised inherited wealth and social class.• I felt that the other kids despised me for having the wrong accent and the wrong colour skin.• If you fly a lot on business, then you probably despise most airports.• They despised the idea and even the word innovation.• We were brought up to despise the people from the poor side of town. They seemed so dirty and ignorant.Origin despise (1200-1300) Old French despire, from Latin despicere “to look down on”, from specere “to look” 