To spurn means to reject something or someone in a proud, scornful way. When you spurn an offer, you push it away with obvious disdain, as if the very idea insults you, showing contempt rather than simple refusal.

Imagine someone offering you a seat at their lunch table, and instead of saying “no thanks,” you turn your back and walk away without a word. That's spurning them. Or picture a character in a story spurning a villain's bribe, refusing the money with contempt because accepting it would mean compromising their values.

The word carries a sense of forceful rejection. You might politely decline an invitation to a party, but if you spurn the invitation, you're making it clear that you want nothing to do with it. A spurned friendship offer leaves the other person feeling genuinely hurt, not just disappointed.

In older stories and poems, spurned lovers appear often: someone whose affection was rejected coldly and completely. When loyalty is spurned, it means devotion was thrown back in someone's face. The word suggests that the rejection itself wounds because of how dismissively it's delivered.