contumelious
/ˌkɒn.tjʊˈmiː.li.əs/
"contumelious" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“contumelious” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rudely contemptuous; showing contumely; exhibiting an insolent or disdainful attitude.
Corpus desk
Index EN-contumelious · contumelious · English
contumelious · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | contumelious |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˌkɒn.tjʊˈmiː.li.əs/ |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “contumelious” in English
Rare enough to double-check
contumelious is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌkɒn.tjʊˈmiː.li.əs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Rudely contemptuous; showing contumely; exhibiting an insolent or disdainful attitude.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for contumelious, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Old French contumelieus, from Latin contumēliōsus (“insulting; abusive”), from contumēlia (“affront, abuse, insult”). The correct English form is contumelious, spelled C-O-N-T-U-M-E-L-I-O-U-S.
Definition
- 1Rudely contemptuous; showing contumely; exhibiting an insolent or disdainful attitude.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how contumelious appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo.
To sin against his law, is an high affront to his majesty; but to sin against his love and benefits is more contumelious to him.
Etymology
From Old French contumelieus, from Latin contumēliōsus (“insulting; abusive”), from contumēlia (“affront, abuse, insult”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.