Despicable means deserving nothing but contempt. A despicable act, despicable behaviour, utterly despicable.
It is among the strongest condemnations in ordinary English and is used of actions rather than of mistakes — a despicable act is one done knowingly. It is stressed on the second syllable in careful use — des-PIC-able — though the first-syllable version is now common. Note despise, which is the verb; contemptible, which is the near synonym; and that despicable has been slightly softened by cartoons since about 2010.
1adjectivedespicableDeserving nothing but contempt.
“Stealing from a charity box is a despicable thing to do.”
synonyms: contemptible, shameful
despicable is a quality deserving contempt.
Latin despicabilis comes from despicere, to look down on — de- plus specere, to look. Despise, despicable and spectacle all descend from the same looking.
Proto-Indo-European
*speḱ-
Latin
dēspicābilis
English, today
despicable
Built from
From Latin dēspicābilis, from Latin dēspicor, a variant of dēspiciō (“to despise”), from de (“down”) + speciō (“to look at, behold”). 1550s. Equivalent to despise + able.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA