CONTUMACY
Con"tu*ma*cy, n.; pl. Contumacies. Etym: [L. contumacia, fr.
contumax, -acis, insolent; prob. akin to contemnere to despise: cf.
F. contumace. Cf. Contemn.]
1. Stubborn perverseness; pertinacious resistance to authority. The bishop commanded him . . . to be thrust into the stocks for his manifest and manifold contumacy. Strype.
2. (Law)
Defn: A willful contempt of, and disobedience to, any lawful summons, or to the rules and orders of court, as a refusal to appear in court when legally summoned.
Syn.
— Stubbornness; perverseness; obstinacy.
CONTUMELIOUS
Con`tu*me"li*ous (or ; 106), a. Etym: [L. contumeliosus.]
1. Exhibiting contumely; rudely contemptuous; insolent; disdainful. Scoffs, and scorns, and contumelious taunts. Shak. Curving a contumelious lip. Tennyson.
2. Shameful; disgraceful. [Obs.] Dr. H. More.
— Con`tu*me"li*ous*ly, adv.
— Con`tu*me"li*ous*ness, n.
CONTUMELY Con"tu*me*ly, n. Etym: [L. contumelia, prob. akin to contemnere to despise: cf. OF. contumelie. Cf. Contumacy.]
Defn: Rudeness compounded of haughtiness and contempt; scornful
insolence; despiteful treatment; disdain; contemptuousness in act or
speech; disgrace.
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely. Shak.
Nothing aggravates tyranny so much as contumely. Burke.