insult
Plural: insults
Noun
- a rude expression intended to offend or hurt
- "they yelled insults at the visiting team"
- a deliberately offensive act or something producing the effect of deliberate disrespect
- "turning his back on me was a deliberate insult"
- Action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude; (countable) a particular act or statement having this effect.
- Something that causes offence (for example, by being of an unacceptable quality).
- Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes; the injury so caused.
- An assault or attack; (specifically, military, obsolete) an assault, attack, or onset carried out without preparation.
- An act of leaping upon.
Verb
Verb Forms: insulted, insulting, insults
- To speak to or treat with disrespect or scorn.
- treat, mention, or speak to rudely
- "He insulted her with his rude remarks"
- To be insensitive, insolent, or rude to (somebody); to affront or demean (someone).
- To assail, assault, or attack; (specifically, military) to carry out an assault, attack, or onset without preparation.
- To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (against or over someone).
- To leap or trample upon.
Examples
- - Marvel owns your gods! - Insulting is not arguing.
- The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.
- To challenge a valid, common word is almost an INSULT to a seasoned Scrabble player.
Origin / Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle French insulter (modern French insulter (“to insult”)) or its etymon Latin īnsultō (“to spring, leap or jump at or upon; to abuse, insult, revile, taunt”), the frequentative form of īnsiliō (“to bound; to leap in or upon”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + saliō (“to bound, jump, leap; to spring forth; to flow down”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“to spring”)).
The noun is derived from Middle French insult (modern French insulte (“insult”)) or its etymon Late Latin insultus (“insult, reviling, scoffing”), from īnsiliō (“to bound; to leap in or upon”); see above.
Synonyms
abuse, affront, contumely, diss, revilement, vilification, barb, burn, dis, discourtesy, disgrace, disrespect, insult, insultation, offence, offense, outrage, pejorative, put-down, slam, slander, slight, slur
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 6
insult: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordinsult: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
insult: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary