con·tu·me·ly  (k ŏn t -m ə-l ē, -ty -, -t əm-l ē)
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n. pl. con·tu·me·lies 1. Rudeness or contempt arising from arrogance; insolence. 2. An insolent or arrogant remark or act.
[Middle English contumelie, from Old French, from Latin contumēlia; akin to contumāx, insolent.]
con′tu·meli·ous (kŏn′tə-mēlē-əs) adj. con′tu·meli·ous·ly adv. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
Indo-European Roots
Semitic Roots
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.
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