familiarity breeds contempt
Cultural Dictionary
Familiarity breeds contempt definition
The better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
familiarity breeds contempt
Long experience of someone or something can make one so aware of the faults as to be scornful. For example, Ten years at the same job and now he hates it
familiarity breeds contempt. The idea is much older, but the first recorded use of this expression was in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee (c. 1386).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
00:10
Familiarity breeds contempt
is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
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