insult

present singular third person insults · participle present insulting · participle past insulted · past insulted

1. transitiveTo be insensitive, insolent, or rude to (somebody); to affront or demean (someone).First known use 17th c.

   - Marvel owns your gods! - Insulting is not arguing.

   5 more examples

   And why I pray you? who might be your mother That you inſult, exult, and all at once Ouer the wretched?

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 199, column 2

   The Foe hayles on thy head; and in thy Face / Inſults, and trenches; leaues thee, no worlds grace; / The walles, in which thou art beſieged, ſhake.

   1609, Geo[rge] Chapman, Euthymiæ Raptus; or The Teares of Peace: […], London: […] H[umphrey] L[ownes] for Rich[ard] Bonian, and H. Walley: […], →OCLC

   Nor would ſuch a man as thou art be deterr'd, were I to remind thee of the vengeance which thou mayeſt one day expect, if thou inſulteſt a woman of her character, family, and fortune.

   1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XLIX. Mr. Belford, to Robert Lovelace, Esq.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 242

   Thou canst not tell where one drop of water or one grain of sand will be to-morrow noon; and yet with thy impotence thou insultest the sun!

   1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Quadrant”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 553

   It was a wordy, disconnected, frantic letter, a drunken letter in fact. It was like the talk of a drunken man, who, on his return home, begins with extraordinary heat telling his wife or one of his household how he has just been insulted, what a rascal has just insulted him, what a fine fellow he is on the other hand, and how he will pay that scoundrel out; [...]

   1912, Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Second Visit to Smerdyakov”, in Constance Garnett, transl., The Brothers Karamazov […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published 1922, part IV, book XI (Ivan), page 667

   Synonyms: disrespect, affront, disgrace, slander, discourtesy, offense · Antonyms: compliment

2. alsofigurativelyobsoletetransitiveTo assail, assault, or attack; (specifically, military) to carry out an assault, attack, or onset without preparation.

   Giue me thy knife, I will inſult on him, Flattering my ſelfes, as if it were the Moore, Come hither purpoſely to poyſon me.

   c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 43, column 1, lines 1518–1520

   1 more example

   Not with more madneſs, rolling from afar, / The ſpumy Waves proclaim the watry War. / And mounting upwards, with a mighty Roar, / March onwards, and inſult the rocky ſhoar.

   1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 107, lines 367–370

3. intransitiveobsoleteTo behave in an obnoxious and superior manner (against or over someone).First known use 16th–19th c.

   Now with the drops of this moſt balmie time, / My loue lookes freſh, and death to me ſubſcribes, / Since ſpight of him Ile liue in this poore time / While he inſults ore dull and ſpeachleſſe tribes.

   1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 107”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC

   2 more examples

   And doe you ſe how he inſulteth ouer me, as though hee had gotten a great aduantage, and how hee taketh heere his reuenge vpon me, for the ſhipwracke hee ſuffered before, in the matter of his ſyllogyſme?

   1609, “P. R.” [i.e., Robert Persons], “The First Chapter Ansvvering to the First of M. Thomas Mortons Three Vaine Inquiryes, Concerning the Witt, Memorie, Learning, Charitie, Modestie, and Truth of His Aduersarie, P. R.”, in A Qviet and Sober Reckoning vvith M. Thomas Morton Somewhat Set in Choler by His Aduersary P. R. […], [Saint-Omer, France]: [s.n.], →OCLC, §IIII (Another Vaine Contention Brought by M. Morton about Skill in Logike), page 37

   But be it ſo thou haſt loſt all, poore thou art deiected, in paine of body, griefe of mind, thine enimies inſult ouer thee, thou art as bad as Iob, yet tel me (ſaith Chryſoſtome), was Iob or the Diuell the greater conqueror, ſurely Job, [...]

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Against Pouerty and Want, with Such Other Adversity”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 3, member 3, page 273

4. intransitiveobsoleterareTo leap or trample upon.

   So looks the pent-vp Lyon o're the Wretch, / That trembles vnder his deuouring Pawes: / And ſo he walkes, inſulting o're his Prey, / And ſo he comes, to rend his Limbes aſunder.

   c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 150, column 2, lines 389–392

plural insults

1. uncountableAction or form of speech deliberately intended to be rude; (countable) a particular act or statement having this effect.

   To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people!

   1988 July 15, John Cleese, A Fish Called Wanda, spoken by Archie Leach (John Cleese)

   2 more examples

   Preſent we meet thy ſneaking treacherous ſmiles; The harmleſs abſent ſtill thy ſneer reviles; Such as in thee all parts ſuperior find, The ſneer that marks the fool and knave combin'd; When melting pity would afford relief The ruthleſs ſneer that insult adds to grief.

   a. 1744, Richard Savage, “London and Bristol Delineated”, in Samuel Johnson, The Works of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland. […], volume V, Dublin: Printed for J. Moore, […], published 1800, →OCLC, page 259, column 2, lines 41–46

   [...] I will, however, enjoin you / Never to submit tamely to insults from any one! for, although I strongly urge you to show every possible respect and deference to all who are your superiors, as indeed due to them, I wish you to remember that, should they return you insults for such consistent conduct, it will be manly in you, after having given them a chance, by your calm and dignified remonstrance, to repair the injury, to resent the (by such an omission) enlarged offence, for thereupon no one can blame you if you firmly persevere in your efforts to obtain reparation.

   1835, Lt. Col. Baron de Berenger [i.e., Charles Random, Baron de Bérenger Beaufain], “Letter XII. On Character Generally, and on Manliness Especially.”, in Helps and Hints How to Protect Life and Property. […], London: Published for the proprietor, by T. Hurst, […], →OCLC, page 179

   Synonyms: affront, diss, insultation, offence, offense, pejorative, slam, slight · Antonyms: compliment

2. countableSomething that causes offence (for example, by being of an unacceptable quality).

   The way the orchestra performed tonight was an insult to my ears.

   2 more examples

   Such marriages he had held were insults to the manhood of any man and the womanhood of any woman. In such unions neither party could respect himself or his companion.

   1907 October, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “Red Godwyn”, in The Shuttle, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, →OCLC, page 348

   The story we will share in the pages of this book, you as the reader and I as the author, contains a modicum of mathematics. I have used it sparingly, and judiciously, but to eliminate it altogether would have been dishonest, a form of intellectual deception and condescension, and an insult to your curiosity and intelligence.

   2011, Thomas Grissom, “A Note to the Reader”, in The Physicist’s World: The Story of Motion and the Limits to Knowledge, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page ix

   Synonyms: disgrace, outrage

3. countableuncountablemedicineSomething causing disease or injury to the body or bodily processes; the injury so caused.

   The exact nature of the teratological insult in diabetic pregnancy, and the cell biological details of the induced disturbances, are not known.

   1996, Ulf J. Eriksson, “Embryo Development in Diabetic Pregnancy”, in Anne Dornhorst, David R. Hadden, editors, Diabetes and Pregnancy: An International Approach to Diagnosis and Management, Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 65

   2 more examples

   [M]ost investigators agreed with the characterization of early brain plasticity as a transiently available, ancillary system that is triggered by neural insult, and that serves, most importantly, as a means of shielding the developing organism from the potentially debilitating effects of neural insult.

   2006, Joan Stiles, Pamela Moses, Brianna M. Paul, “The Longitudinal Study of Spatial Cognitive Development in Children with Pre- or Perinatal Focal Brain Injury: […]”, in Stephen G. Lomber, Jos J. Eggermont, editors, Reprogramming the Cerebral Cortex: Plasticity following Central and Peripheral Leisons, Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 415

   Within the complex genome of most organisms there are alternative multiple pathways of proteins which can help the individual cell survive a variety of insults, for example radiation, toxic chemicals, heat, excessive or reduced oxygen.

   2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, “What Cells Can Do”, in The Cell: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions), Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 96

4. alsoarchaiccountablefigurativelyAn assault or attack; (specifically, military, obsolete) an assault, attack, or onset carried out without preparation.

   The government was continually expoſed to the inſults of a faction, and deſtitute of the neceſſary reſources.

   1784, “From the Accession of James to the English Crown, to the Battle of Kilrush, in the Reign of Charles I”, in The History of Ireland, from the Earliest Authentic Accounts. […], Dublin: Printed for Luke White, […], →OCLC, page 226

   1 more example

   Then fir'd with pious Rage, the gen'rous Train / Run madly forward, to revenge the ſlain. / And ſome with eager haſte their Jav'lins throw; / And ſome, with Sword in hand, aſſault the Foe. / The wiſh'd Inſult the Latine Troops embrace; / And meet their Ardour in the middle Space.

   1697, Virgil, “The Twelfth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 590, lines 415–420

5. countableobsoleteAn act of leaping upon.

   The Bull's Inſult at Four ſhe [the mother cow] may ſuſtain; / But, after Ten, from Nuptial Rites refrain. / Six Seaſons uſe; but then releaſe the Cow, / Unfit for Love, and for the lab'ring Plough.

   1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 99, lines 99–102