misprize means contempt. It carries an Arena rating of 1651, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, misprize ranks #205 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #3,379 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #3,943 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #4,496 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words.
misprize is pronounced /mɪsˈpɹʌɪz/.
Why “misprize” is a great word
To hold in contempt or assign a low value to, often through a deliberate, scornful judgment. From Middle French mespriser (verb) and mespris (noun), from mes- ("mis-") + prisier ("to appraise, to prize"). Unlike "despise," which is a hot, visceral disgust, or "undervalue," a clinical economic assessment, to misprize is a cooler, more considered verdict of unworthiness. It is the collector dismissing a masterpiece as mere craft, the critic’s icy silence following a passionate work, or the quiet removal of a name from consideration; it is contempt distilled into a policy, the quiet violence of a measured dismissal.
Etymology
From Middle French mespriser (verb), mespris (noun).
noun
- Contempt.e.g.“He ment to make them know their follies prise,
Had not those two him instantly desired
T'asswage his wrath, and pardon their mesprise […].” — 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
verb
- To despise or hold in contempt; to undervalue.e.g.“Nature neuer fram'd a womans heart,
Of prowder stuffe then that of Beatrice:
Disdaine and Scorne ride sparkling in her eyes,
Mis-prizing what they looke on […]” — 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] B
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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