Contemptible means deserving no respect at all. A contemptible act, utterly contemptible, contemptible behaviour.
It is one of the strongest moral judgements available and it is about worth rather than harm — a contemptible act may do little damage and still deserve the word. Note the pair that trips everybody: contemptible means deserving contempt and contemptuous means showing it, so a contemptuous look is aimed at a contemptible thing.
1adjectivecontemptibleDeserving no respect at all.
“Stealing from a charity box is a contemptible thing to do.”
synonyms: despicable, shameful
contemptible is a quality of deserving scorn.
Latin contemptibilis comes from contemnere, to despise — con plus temnere, to scorn. Contempt and contemn come from the same scorn.
Latin
contemptibilis
Middle English
contemptible
English, today
contemptible
From Middle English contemptible, from Latin contemptibilis. by surface analysis, contempt + -ible.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA