insult

 

verb

Pronunciation: /ɪnˈsʌlt/
[with object]
  • speak to or treat with disrespect or scornful abuse: you’re insulting the woman I love

noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɪnsʌlt/
  • 1a disrespectful or scornfully abusive remark or act: he hurled insults at us he saw the book as a deliberate insult to the Church
  • a thing so worthless or contemptible as to be offensive: the present offer is an absolute insult
  • 2 Medicine an event which causes damage to a tissue or organ: the movement of the bone causes a severe tissue insult

Phrases

add insult to injury

act in a way that makes a bad situation worse: to ask our members to accept a pay cut adds insult to injury

Derivatives

insulter

noun

Origin:

mid 16th century (as a verb in the sense 'exult, act arrogantly'): from Latin insultare 'jump or trample on', from in- 'on' + saltare, from salire 'to leap'. The noun (in the early 17th century denoting an attack) is from French insulte or ecclesiastical Latin insultus. The main current senses date from the 17th century, the medical use dating from the early 20th century