insult
Meanings
verb
- 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.
noun
- 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.
Pronunciation
Word forms
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
Antonyms
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Derived words
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.