Disdain, n.
Etymology: [OE. desdain, disdein, OF. desdein, desdaing, F. dédain, fr. the verb. See Disdain, v. t.]
1. A feeling of contempt and aversion; the regarding anything as unworthy of or beneath one; scorn. How my soul is moved with just disdain! Pope.
Note: Often implying an idea of haughtiness. Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes. Shak.
2. That which is worthy to be disdained or regarded with contempt and aversion. [Obs.] Most loathsome, filthy, foul, and full of vile disdain. Spenser.
3. The state of being despised; shame. [Obs.] Shak.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Haughtiness; scorn; contempt; arrogance; pride. See Haughtiness.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Disdain, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Disdained; p. pr. & vb. n. Disdaining.]
1. To think unworthy; to deem unsuitable or unbecoming; as, to disdain to do a mean act. Disdaining . . . that any should bear the armor of the best knight living. Sir P. Sidney.
2. To reject as unworthy of one's self, or as not deserving one's notice; to look with scorn upon; to scorn, as base acts, character, etc. When the Philistine . . . saw Dawid, he disdained him; for he was but a youth. 1 Sam. xvii. 42. 'T is great, 't manly to disdain disguise. Young.
Syn. -- To contemn; despise; scorn. See Contemn.
Disdain, v. i.
To be filled with scorn; to feel contemptuous anger; to be haughty. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the marvels that he did . . . they disdained. Genevan Testament (Matt. xxi. 15).
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for disdain; he lists it under pride.
Where he writes about it:
Pride is an absorbing sense of one's own greatness; haughtiness feels one's own superiority to others; disdain sees contemptuously the inferiority of others to oneself. — from pride
In the presence of superiors overweening pride manifests itself in presumption or insolence; in the presence of inferiors, or those supposed to be inferior, pride manifests itself by arrogance, disdain, haughtiness, superciliousness, or in either case often by cold reserve. (See RESERVE under modesty.) Pride is too self-satisfied to care for praise; vanity intensely craves admiration and applause. — from pride
Superciliousness, as if by the uplifted eyebrow, as its etymology suggests (L. supercilium, eyebrow, from super, over and cilium, eyelid), silently manifests mingled haughtiness and disdain. — from pride