insult
part of speech
noun (an insult, insults); verb (insult, insults, insulted, insulting)
meaning for a pupil
1) To insult someone is to say or do something rude that hurts their feelings or shows no respect. tree →
2) An insult is a rude, unkind remark or action. tree →
3) An insult to something means something so bad it seems to show disrespect: "an insult to our intelligence". tree →
sense in the lessons
In PSHE and anti-bullying lessons pupils learn that insults hurt and that name-calling is a kind of bullying. In stories, insults start arguments and fights. Phrases: hurl/throw insults, trade insults, take it as an insult, add insult to injury (make a bad thing worse).
examples
- Calling someone stupid is an insult. tree →
- He insulted the cook by not eating anything. tree →
- Don't trade insults; walk away and tell a teacher. tree →
- She took it as an insult when he laughed. tree →
- The two pirates shouted insults at each other. tree →
- To add insult to injury, it started raining after I fell. tree →
- Saying sorry after an insult is the right thing. tree →
- That tiny prize was an insult to all our hard work. tree →
- “Geppetto, do not insult me or I shall call you Polendina.” tree →
note
Stress moves: noun IN-sult, verb in-SULT. Adjective: insulting. Regular verb. Starts with a vowel: "an insult". "Add insult to injury" is a fixed phrase.
In the corpora
- Not everything people do is about you; a doorbell camera is a common gadget, not an insult.
- "Some choice words" means swear words or insults, as in "she had some choice words for the referee".
- "The one-finger salute" is a jokey name for raising the middle finger as an insult.
- "Flip the bird" means raise the middle finger as an insult; it is American slang.
- A look, a rude word or an insult is not a physical attack, so hitting for it is not self-defence.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «insult» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.