contempt of court
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.73 in modern English
26
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
4
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Open disrespect for or willful disobedience of the authority of a court of law or legislative body, typically punishable by such sanctions as a fine or incarceration.
Uncountable
noun
A particular act of open disrespect for or willful disobedience of the authority of a court of law.
Countable
noun
A court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "[T]hey never could see the Missionaries dispose of their legs in the attitude of kneeling, or hear them begin a hymn in chorus, without bursting into roars of irrepressible laughter. It is much to be hoped that no member of this facetious tribe may ever find his way to England and get committed for contempt of Court."
- "If a researcher refused, a contempt of court order might result in incarceration of the researcher (see Hagan 1984)."
- "On the same day, Judge Walsh issued a contempt of court decree against Chair Peter McDonald and the Navajo tribal government for having failed to comply with his order to reduce Dine livestock in the JUA."
- "The Attorney General applied for an order for contempt of court against the New Statesman."
- "For my part, I am quite satisfied that there may also be consecutive or successive contempts of court constituted by repeated omissions to comply with a mandatory order positively to do something."
- "When defendant committed the contempts of court at issue here, he was not at the time incarcerated in a penal or reformatory institution and he was not an escapee."