Disdain: (noun) a feeling of contempt for someone or something regarded as unworthy or inferior, scorn.
Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary (online)
I encountered this word in the reading The Ride by JL Williams on page 408 paragraph 2. “On every train car, every day, there is at least one person who irritates the rest of us, who makes us feel like we are visitors in their living room, irritants that they feel the need to convey their disdain for while we share a confined space for a limited time.” Here Williams is trying to say how there will be people on public transportations who seem to want to show the rest are inferior. As if everyone else is a guest in this “irritants” house. For example, it is rare to see someone with power dressed in a stained T-shirt and wasted shoes. They will also have the most comfortable seat and personal space. That’s why later in paragraph 4 the passenger takes up two seats on a busy and full train car. I now understand fully how the word disdain contributes to the context of this sentence.
Diana Galvez
