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Webster 1913 Edition


Despicability

Desˊpi-ca-bil′i-ty

,
Noun.
Despicableness.
[R.]
Carlyle.
Syn. – Contemptible; mean; vile; worthless; pitiful; paltry; sordid; low; base. See
Contemptible
.

Definition 2024


despicability

despicability

English

Noun

despicability (uncountable)

  1. Despicableness.
    • 1778, Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti, A Grammar of the Italian Language, J. Nourse, pg. 38-39:
      Thoſe in accio and ozzo, indicate bigneſs as well as wickedneſs and deſpicability.
    • 1901 [1909], Wallace Rice, Animals: a Popular Natural History of Wild Beasts, Duffield and Co., pg. 112:
      Its short hind legs give a most ungainly gait, though it runs with surprising speed when pursued. Its unearthly howl adds to its despicability.
    • 2010, May 5, Darren Franich, "Every Now and Then I Fall Apart," Entertainment Weekly:
      Because it wasn’t quite clear what the parameters of the list were — Hotness? Naughtiness? Sexuality? Purity? — everyone was left to ponder, in their own way, how to get more popular, by balancing the various strands of admiration, fascination, respect, and despicability that comprise modern celebrity.