insult
/ɪnˈsʌlt/
Frequency: 3.99 in modern English
Meaning
verb
To be insensitive, insolent, or rude to (somebody); to affront or demean (someone).
Transitive verb
verb
To assail, assault, or attack; (specifically, military) to carry out an assault, attack, or onset without preparation.
Obsolete; Transitive verb
verb
To behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (against or over someone).
Intransitive verb; Obsolete
noun
Action or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude; (countable) a particular act or statement having this effect.
Uncountable
noun
Something causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes; the injury so caused.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An assault or attack; (specifically, military, obsolete) an assault, attack, or onset carried out without preparation.
Archaic; Countable
Example Sentences
- "- Marvel owns your gods! - Insulting is not arguing."
- "And why I pray you? who might be your mother That you inſult, exult, and all at once Ouer the wretched?"
- "The Foe hayles on thy head; and in thy Face / Inſults, and trenches; leaues thee, no worlds grace; / The walles, in which thou art beſieged, ſhake."
- "Nor would ſuch a man as thou art be deterr'd, were I to remind thee of the vengeance which thou mayeſt one day expect, if thou inſulteſt a woman of her character, family, and fortune."
- "Thou canst not tell where one drop of water or one grain of sand will be to-morrow noon; and yet with thy impotence thou insultest the sun!"
- "It was a wordy, disconnected, frantic letter, a drunken letter in fact. It was like the talk of a drunken man, who, on his return home, begins with extraordinary heat telling his wife or one of his household how he has just been insulted, what a rascal has just insulted him, what a fine fellow he is on the other hand, and how he will pay that scoundrel out; [...]"
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɪnˈsʌlt/
- British English: /ɪnˈsʌlt/