verb
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to reject (a person or thing) with contempt
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archaic to kick (at)
noun
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an instance of spurning
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archaic a kick or thrust
Related Words
See refuse 1.
Other Word Forms
- outspurn verb (used with object)
- spurner noun
Etymology
Origin of spurn
First recorded in 1250–1300; (verb) Middle English spurnen, Old English spurnan; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German spurnan, Old Norse sporna “to kick”; akin to Latin spernere “to put away”; (noun) Middle English: “a kick, contemptuous stroke,” derivative of the verb
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When the singer put out “Red Rose Speedway” in 1973, the Village Voice spurned it as “possibly the worst album ever made by a rock and roller of the first rank.”
Instead of using Leah’s name, the book spurned her as, “The relative … in whose house Miss Fox was then living.”
From Literature
On a night Gordon spurned one or two opportunities from open play, there was no chance of him letting go of the ball when he won his side another spot-kick before the break.
From BBC
Discovery is cracking open the door to allow spurned bidder, Paramount Skydance, to make its case — but Warner’s board still maintains its preference for Netflix’s competing proposal.
From Los Angeles Times
The story of the first Carthaginian queen, Dido, was co-opted by the Roman poet Virgil, whose hero, Aeneas, spurns her.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
