Link Centre Dictionary

insult

in·sult

UK/ˈɪnsʌlt/ US/ˈɪnsɒlt/ common
verb (1) noun (2)

verb

1.

treat, mention, or speak to rudely

  • “He insulted her with his rude remarks”
  • “the student who had betrayed his classmate was dissed by everyone”
Synonyms

noun

1.

a rude expression intended to offend or hurt

  • “when a student made a stupid mistake he spared them no abuse”
  • “they yelled insults at the visiting team”
Synonyms
2.

a deliberately offensive act or something producing the effect of deliberate disrespect

  • “turning his back on me was a deliberate insult”
Synonyms

Origin

The verb is derived from Middle French insulter (modern French insulter (“to insult”)) or its etymon Latin īnsultō (“to spring, leap or jump at or upon; to abuse, insult, revile, taunt”), the frequentative form of īnsiliō (“to bound; to leap in or upon”), from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + saliō (“to bound, jump, leap; to spring forth; to flow down”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“to spring”)). The noun is derived from Middle French insult (modern French insulte (“insult”)) or its etymon Late Latin insultus (“insult, reviling, scoffing”), from īnsiliō (“to bound; to leap in or upon”); see above.

Phrases

  • add insult to injury
  • an insult to one is an insult to all
  • heap insult on injury
  • insult one's intelligence
  • insult to injury

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.