look down on

English

Alternative forms

• look down upon

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

look down on (third-person singular simple present looks down on, present participle looking down on, simple past and past participle looked down on)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To regard or treat as inferior.
   • 2009 September 25, Michael Deacon, “Ross Noble: interview”, in Telegraph.co.uk:

     He remembers feeling that people looked down on him, and, ‘realising I was rubbish at academic stuff’, he decided he'd join a circus.

2. (transitive) To view from a vantage point.
   • 1948 March and April, “A Keypoint in an Intensive Service”, in Railway Magazine, page 115:

     High up on the viaduct, and approached by a spidery staircase from the street, it looks down on Southwark Cathedral.

3. (transitive, idiomatic) 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.

Synonyms

• look down one's nose (at)

Antonyms

• look up to

Translations

to regard or treat as inferior

• Arabic: تَرَفَّعَ (taraffaʕa)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 看不起 (zh) (kànbùqǐ), 瞧不起 (zh) (qiāobùqǐ), 小看 (zh) (xiǎokàn), 俯視／俯视 (zh) (fǔshì), 輕視／轻视 (zh) (qīngshì), 鄙視／鄙视 (zh) (bǐshì)

• Czech: dívat se spatra impf, povyšovat se
• Dutch: neerkijken op
• Finnish: ylenkatsoa, halveksia (fi)
• French: mépriser (fr), regarder de haut (fr)
• German: (general) von oben herab behandeln; (from perspective of superior also) hinabsehen auf, hinabschauen auf; (from perspective of inferior also) herabsehen auf, herabschauen auf
• Hungarian: lenéz (hu)
• Italian: guardare in basso
• Japanese: 見下す (mikudasu), 軽んじる (ja) (karonjiru), 軽視する (ja) (keishi suru), 軽蔑する (ja) (keibetsu suru)
• Korean: 얕보다 (yatboda), 내려다보다 (ko) (naeryeodaboda), 깔보다 (ko) (kkalboda)
• Latin: despiciō, dēdignor, aspernor
• Lithuanian: žiūrėti iš aukšto
• Maori: whakatakē, tamatama
• Norwegian: se ned på, rakke ned på
• Polish: patrzeć z góry (pl) impf
• Portuguese: menosprezar (pt)
• Russian: смотре́ть свысока́ (smotrétʹ svysoká), презира́ть (ru) impf (prezirátʹ)
• Slovak: pozerať (na niekoho) zhora, pozerať opovržlivo
• Spanish: menospreciar (es), ningunear (es)
• Swedish: se ned på

See also

• look upon