What's the difference between despise and spurn?

Despise


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To look down upon with disfavor or contempt; to contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have a low opinion or contemptuous dislike of.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Indeed, it is democracy itself that the markets seem to despise.
  • (2) We were immediately sure he despised the movie more than any of the other Hollywood McCarthy adaptations – and there had been a few stinkers.
  • (3) Disowned by family and despised by public opinion, she is now in prison.
  • (4) The militant group, which despises foreign intervention, has expelled numerous international and local aid groups from the territory it controls.
  • (5) First, medicine was despised as a mechanical art or suspected of paganism because of its literary sources.
  • (6) How would you describe a person with an adoring sister and admiring father creating a child despised by father and siblings?
  • (7) In the wake of plunging costs in global market, prices on the forecourt have fallen much faster than household heating bills, which may be why petrol and oil companies are less despised than home energy suppliers – also being named by 26%.
  • (8) He has been derided in these pages, but that derision is surpassed by the venomous hatred of the Daily Mail , which loathes the Cameron government in any case and particularly despised Mitchell in his previous job.
  • (9) "I've always despised it to a certain degree but after this last few years and all this nonsense with the films, I believe it to be a completely poisonous place that isn't really going anywhere.
  • (10) Though he despised “race-baiting”, Noir wrote, “covert racism is a real thing and is very dangerous.
  • (11) So far, concerns about reproductions creeping on to the collectibles market seem greater than any worries about the reintroduction of objects that resurrect old, despised stereotypes.
  • (12) It's a melancholy fate for any writer to become an eponym for all that he despised, but that is what happened to George Orwell, whose memory is routinely abused in unthinking uses of the adjective "Orwellian".
  • (13) What an irony that our own MPs and peers, who complain so bitterly about the draining of British sovereignty to Brussels, were not trusted to discuss this issue – while the despised European parliament has, over the past year, freely, intelligently, intricately and repeatedly addressed it.
  • (14) The group despised the liberal socialism of the dominant Labour Zionists and its goal was an "Iron Wall" to defend Jews against what they deemed would be an inevitable backlash by Arabs.
  • (15) They were never aggressive, they were never forcing it down your throat … but you were left with no illusions looking at their social media that they were a) Chelsea fans and b) Ukip supporters.” He said he “despised” racism and described the actions on the film as appalling, adding that it in no way represented the views of most people at his former school.
  • (16) Vronsky, who had despised Karenin because he wouldn't fight a duel, is now humiliated and dishonoured; Karenin, flooded with forgiveness for everyone, wins back Anna's respect.
  • (17) He promised to take us "to the heart of Europe", but left behind a country more Europhobic than ever – and more despised in a Europe that he berated to appease Rupert Murdoch.
  • (18) They despised Bond's characters, his "slavishly literal bawdry", the lack of artistry in his writing.
  • (19) Malone, who was made a billionaire several times over by the AT&T deal, despised being answerable to the parent company's board and wanted out.
  • (20) Johnson was despised on the right and left by the time he was driven from office in 1968.

Spurn


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To drive back or away, as with the foot; to kick.
  • (v. t.) To reject with disdain; to scorn to receive or accept; to treat with contempt.
  • (v. i.) To kick or toss up the heels.
  • (v. i.) To manifest disdain in rejecting anything; to make contemptuous opposition or resistance.
  • (n.) A kick; a blow with the foot.
  • (n.) Disdainful rejection; contemptuous tratment.
  • (n.) A body of coal left to sustain an overhanding mass.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But if they spurn it, Scotland can continue using sterling anyway.
  • (2) We cannot as a centre-right party be drawn into the hubris and hysteria of populism that demands total withdrawal from Europe while ignoring the obvious dangers of such action and spurning the opportunity for reform that lies ahead of us.
  • (3) Karzai infuriated both Musharraf and Ashfaq Kayani, his successor as army chief, by spurning offers to help train Afghanistan’s embryonic army.
  • (4) The three big UK parties, in the form of George Osborne, Ed Balls and Danny Alexander, have united in saying that a spurned rest-of-the-UK will agree no currency union with an independent Scotland.
  • (5) While they spurned several opportunities here, allowing tension to creep in before Tadic scored the second 17 minutes from time, their three centre-halves did not allow the Watford strikeforce of Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney a sniff.
  • (6) Today's announcement could be seen as a victory for the ITV management and board's strategic vision over that of the spurned Tony Ball, the former BSkyB boss who was being lined up as the company's new chief executive until negotiations broke down acrimoniously last month.
  • (7) Skifcha spurned a wave of parody videos and fan art but it’s all been rather quiet over the past few years.
  • (8) Somehow, Richard Prince's art spurns my critical advances.
  • (9) Facebook is down almost 4%, LinkedIn lost 3%, and Twitter (which spurned the Nasdaq for the NYSE index) dropped around 4%.
  • (10) The desire to determine the extent inter-rater measurements obtained in a clinical setting are free from measurement error and reflect true scores has spurned a renewed interest in assessment of reliability.
  • (11) Their latest show of wastefulness came as they ended a positive season with a 2-1 defeat to Stoke City and Diafra Sakho was particularly culpable, spurning a glorious chance to make it 2-0 early in the second half.
  • (12) In what appeared to be a planned spree – Rodger uploaded YouTube videos in which he denounced women for spurning him and vowed to take “great pleasure in slaughtering all of you” – he allegedly started by stabbing three men repeatedly in an apartment some time before 9.30pm on Friday.
  • (13) In December it offered almost two Santander shares for each A&L share to secure a deal but was spurned by the UK lender's board.
  • (14) But after spurning a number of chances it looked as though it would not be their night when United, largely against the run of play, took the lead when David Norris picked out Smith with a pin-point cross to head home from close range.
  • (15) Thwarted in his attempts to travel abroad, spurned by his fiancee once police had contacted her, he suffered serial rejection.
  • (16) History will almost certainly judge Osborne as the chancellor who spurned the chance to gain massive public support by tackling tax avoidance properly; consequently, he well may be seen as the man who cost his party the 2015 election.
  • (17) Diplomats say that at dinners he spurns lists of talking points and is willing to engage with his counterparts.
  • (18) 'Yorkshire WIldlife Trust, owners of Spurn Point, asked for help clean up after the December tidal surge.
  • (19) Norman, too, knows what it is like to pass up fine major-winning opportunities; events at Lytham may have proved familiar, though even he never spurned a chance so late in proceedings.
  • (20) At the last general election, less than 12% of voters spurned Tory, Labour or Lib Dem candidates.