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   In·sult

   verb

   • 1. speak to or treat with disrespect or scornful abuse: "you're insulting the woman I love"

   noun

   • 1. a disrespectful or scornfully abusive remark or action: "he hurled insults at us"
   • ▪ a thing so worthless or contemptible as to be offensive: "the present offer is an absolute insult"
   • 2. an event or occurrence that causes damage to a tissue or organ: "the movement of the bone causes a severe tissue insult"

   Word Origin mid 16th century (as a verb in the sense ‘exult, act arrogantly’): from Latin insultare ‘jump or trample on’, from in- ‘on’ + saltare, from salire ‘to leap’. The noun (in the early 17th century denoting an attack) is from French insulte or ecclesiastical Latin insultus. The main current senses date from the 17th century, the medical use dating from the early 20th century.

   Derivatives

   • 1. insulter noun

   Scrabble Points: 6

   • I

     1

   • N

     1

   • S

     1

   • U

     1

   • L

     1

   • T

     1

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