vilipend. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

vilipend

SYLLABICATION:	vil·i·pend
PRONUNCIATION:	vl-pnd
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: vil·i·pend·ed, vil·i·pend·ing, vil·i·pends 1. To view or treat with contempt; despise. 2. To speak ill of; disparage.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English vilipenden, from Old French vilipender, from Latin vlipendere : vlis, worthless; see wes-³ in Appendix I + pendere, to consider, weigh; see (s)pen- in Appendix I.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.