To despise someone or something means to feel intense dislike or disgust toward them. It's a strong word, much stronger than simply disliking something. When you despise broccoli, you don't just prefer other vegetables: you find it genuinely repulsive. When someone despises cruelty, they feel deep moral revulsion toward it.

The word carries real weight and seriousness. You might dislike doing chores, but you probably don't despise them. A student who despises cheating doesn't just think it's wrong: they find it contemptible. Someone might despise bullying so much that they feel compelled to stand up against it whenever they see it.

Despise often implies looking down on something as worthless or beneath consideration. In classic literature, villains often despise qualities like kindness or mercy, seeing them as weaknesses. Heroes, meanwhile, might despise cowardice or dishonesty.

The feeling goes beyond anger or annoyance. Anger burns hot and can cool down, but to despise something means to hold a lasting, cold contempt for it. When you truly despise something, you want nothing to do with it.