Definition of "contemptuously"

Ralph, who was a thickset clownish figure, arrived at his full strength, and conscious of the most complete personal superiority, laughed contemptuously at the threats of the slight-made stripling.

1820, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], page 146

'They haven't no more philosophy nor political economy about 'em than that,' said the beadle, snapping his fingers contemptuously.

1867, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in Oliver Twist

He snapped his fingers contemptuously at the alarm clock. "I fear thee not, thou ticking tyrant."

1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 29

Under the statute an individual who "publicly mutilates, tramples upon, defaces or treats contemptuously the flag of the United States […] " was subject to criminal liability.

1986, Treatise on Constitutional Law: Substance and Procedure, volume 3, page 36

The girl looked at Onisi contemptuously, then laughed jeeringly. He was then six years old and didn't know how to speak in English so he couldn't understand what she was saying but he sensed that it was derogatory.

1994, Joseph Veramo, Moving through the Streets: A Novel, page 39