To say cruel, mocking things to upset or provoke someone

📝 The bigger boys would taunt him about his height until he walked home in tears.

📖 Day after day the girls taunt Wanda with the same question, pretending to admire dresses they know she does not own.

To make fun of someone in an unkind, imitating way

📝 It is unkind to mock the way another person speaks.

📖 The girls mock Wanda's answers, repeating 'a hundred dresses' to each other and laughing behind their hands.

To shout or laugh rudely at someone in order to hurt or mock them

📝 The crowd began to jeer when the referee made the unfair call.

📖 Though no one quite jeers out loud, the giggling circle around Wanda feels almost as cruel as shouting would.

A strong feeling that someone or something is worthless; open contempt

📝 She looked at the cheat with scorn and refused to shake his hand.

📖 Behind the sweet questions is pure scorn, a sense that Wanda, poor and foreign, is beneath the other girls.

Mocking laughter or words that show you think someone is ridiculous

📝 His wild idea was met with derision from the whole committee.

📖 Wanda's hundred dresses are greeted with derision, the girls treating her dream as nothing more than a joke.

To smile or speak in a scornful, superior way

📝 He gave a sneer and said the painting was a waste of good paper.

📖 Some of the girls sneer openly now, no longer bothering to hide how little they think of Wanda.

To make someone or something seem small and unimportant

📝 A good coach lifts you up and never tries to belittle you.

📖 Every teasing question is meant to belittle Wanda, to make her feel as small and plain as her single dress.

To make someone feel ashamed and foolish in front of others

📝 He was humiliated when he tripped on stage in front of the whole school.

📖 The girls humiliate Wanda in front of everyone, and she stands there, cornered, with nowhere to look.

Showing no kindness or pity

📝 The midday sun was merciless, and there was no shade anywhere.

📖 Children can be merciless, and the circle around Wanda shows no sign of letting her go.

Treating someone as though you are better or cleverer than they are

📝 The waiter's condescending smile made them feel unwelcome.

📖 Peggy's questions are condescending, kind on the surface but spoken down to Wanda, as if to a silly little child.

Showing that you think someone or something is not worth your respect

📝 She gave the cold soup a disdainful glance and pushed it away.

📖 A disdainful look passes between the girls whenever Wanda answers, as though her very existence amuses them.

Too pleased with yourself in a way that annoys other people

📝 He wore a smug grin after beating his little brother at chess.

📖 The girls feel smug and clever, never once wondering whether their joke might be unkind.

Proud and looking down on others; arrogant

📝 The haughty duchess refused to speak to anyone she thought beneath her.

📖 There is something haughty in the way the popular girls circle Wanda, certain they stand far above her.

Having no interest or care; not bothered at all

📝 He was completely indifferent to the mess, stepping over it without a glance.

📖 Most of the class is simply indifferent, watching the teasing without joining in and without stopping it either.

Feeling terribly embarrassed and ashamed

📝 She was mortified to realise she had called the teacher 'Mum'.

📖 Deep down Maddie is mortified, uneasy at the teasing, yet too frightened of Peggy to say a word.

To make a small, sudden movement because of pain or discomfort

📝 He winced as the nurse cleaned the cut on his knee.

📖 Maddie winces inside every time the game begins, but her face stays still and she says nothing.

To make someone feel they do not belong, pushing them away

📝 Constant criticism can alienate even your closest friends.

📖 The teasing does more than hurt Wanda for a moment; it alienates her, until the classroom feels like a place with no room for her.