Dictionary

look down on en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) To regard or treat as inferior.
   • He remembers feeling that people looked down on him, and, ‘realising I was rubbish at academic stuff’, he decided he'd join a circus. 2009 September 25, Michael Deacon, “Ross Noble: interview”, in Telegraph.co.uk:
2. (transitive) To view from a vantage point.
   • High up on the viaduct, and approached by a spidery staircase from the street, it looks down on Southwark Cathedral. 1948 March and April, “A Keypoint in an Intensive Service”, in Railway Magazine, page 115:
3. (idiomatic, transitive) To view [people or events on Earth] from the vantage point of the afterlife (originally, Heaven).
   • I get a feeling Kurt Cobain is looking down on Nickelback and wondering what alternative rock has become.

Forms

Antonyms

respect · regard · respect · venerate · look up to · prize · hallow · rate · worthy · look up to · put store in · esteem · lay store by · value · honor · put store by · idolize · set store by · revere

Relateds

look upon

Synonyms

disrespect · disdain · disesteem · contemn · look down on · despise · disesteem · spurn · disdain · look down one's nose · despect · misrespect · scorn

Translations (46)

cs dívat se spatra (to regard or treat as inferior) · de von oben herab behandeln (to regard or treat as inferior) · cmn 小看 (to regard or treat as inferior) · cmn 看不起 (to regard or treat as inferior) · de hinabschauen auf (to regard or treat as inferior) · cmn 鄙視 /鄙视 (to regard or treat as inferior) · gl menosprezar (to regard or treat as inferior) · cmn 瞧不起 (to regard or treat as inferior) · ja 軽蔑する (to regard or treat as inferior) · ja 軽視する (to regard or treat as inferior) · la despiciō (to regard or treat as inferior) · no se ned på (to regard or treat as inferior) · fi halveksia (to regard or treat as inferior) · pt menosprezar (to regard or treat as inferior) · de hinabsehen auf (to regard or treat as inferior) · de herabschauen auf (to regard or treat as inferior) · ko 깔보다 (to regard or treat as inferior) · mi whakatakē (to regard or treat as inferior) · la dēdignor (to regard or treat as inferior) · es ningunear (to regard or treat as inferior) · ja 見下す (to regard or treat as inferior) · ja 軽んじる (to regard or treat as inferior) · fr mépriser (to regard or treat as inferior) · es menospreciar (to regard or treat as inferior) · ko 얕보다 (to regard or treat as inferior) · sv se ned på (to regard or treat as inferior) · fi ylenkatsoa (to regard or treat as inferior) · la aspernor (to regard or treat as inferior) · nl neerkijken op (to regard or treat as inferior) · ru презира́ть (to regard or treat as inferior) · no rakke ned på (to regard or treat as inferior) · de herabsehen auf (to regard or treat as inferior) · cmn 俯視 /俯视 (to regard or treat as inferior) · ko 내려다보다 (to regard or treat as inferior) · it guardare in basso (to regard or treat as inferior) · sk pozerať zhora (na niekoho) (to regard or treat as inferior) · lt žiūrėti iš aukšto (to regard or treat as inferior) · cs povyšovat se (to regard or treat as inferior) · ar تَرَفَّعَ (to regard or treat as inferior) · sk pozerať opovržlivo (to regard or treat as inferior) · mi tamatama (to regard or treat as inferior) · fr regarder de haut (to regard or treat as inferior) · pl patrzeć z góry (to regard or treat as inferior) · ru смотре́ть свысока́ (to regard or treat as inferior) · hu lenéz (to regard or treat as inferior) · cmn 輕視 /轻视 (to regard or treat as inferior)