spurn
pronunciation
How to pronounce spurn in British English:
UK [spɜ:n]
How to pronounce spurn in American English:
US [spɜrn]
-
- Verb:
- reject with contempt
Word Origin
- spurn (v.)
- Old English spurnan "to kick (away), strike against; reject, scorn, despise," from Proto-Germanic *spurnon (cognates: Old Saxon and Old High German spurnan, Old Frisian spurna, Old Norse sporna "to kick, drive away with the feet"), from PIE root *spere- "ankle" (cognates: Middle Dutch spoor "track of an animal," Greek sphyron "ankle," Latin spernere "to reject, spurn," Sanskrit sphurati "kicks," Middle Irish seir "heel"). Related: Spurned; spurning.
Example
- 1. One is that the syndicates will spurn smaller deals because of the cost of the paperwork .
- 2. China issued its strongest statement yet against a u. s.congressional report urging u. s.business to spurn two chinese telecommunications companies , saying the move could hurt relations between the countries .
- 3. Its decision to accept , partially agree to or spurn the push for new economic curbs on tehran will be crucial to washington 's efforts to starve iran 's economy as punishment for the country 's alleged attempts to develop a nuclear weapon .
- 4. Martian life might be different from terrestrial life in many ways , but it is hard to conceive of any form of life that would spurn a rich and abundant energy supply in favour of a scarce and less fulfilling one .
- 5. They spurn the cultural and geographic stories of their forebears in favour of an approach rooted solely in institutional economics , which studies the impact of political environments on economic outcomes .