Marcus Buckingham

Google and Facebook, each in their own way, have revolutionized the delivery of advertising based on search and social networking, creating a sort of anti-Spam: targeted, relevant ads that a consumer might actually welcome rather than spurn.

British Author

Srikumar Rao

If you embrace 'positive thinking,' you are - by definition - spurning 'negative thinking.' So it's as if you were on a teeter-totter and are trying desperately to put all your weight on one side - the 'positive thinking' side.

Indian Educator

Clive Lewis

There is nothing efficient about firms spurning more productive technologies because years of unrelenting attacks on social safety nets and collective bargaining have created cheap labour in abundance.

Anthony Lewis

Over many years, the United States has worked to persuade and compel governments around the world to abide by the rules. By spurning our own rules, we put that effort at risk.

American Journalist

Andrew Shaffer

It's easy to feel spurned, especially when you return to your apartment and stare at the hundreds of rejection letters tacked to your bulletin board.

American Author

David Berman

I read Henry Miller's 'Nexus,' 'Sexus' and 'Plexus' the summer after I graduated from college. It cemented my decision to spurn any and all careers.

American Musician

Ovid

Roman Poet

Using 'spurn' can indicate a strong rejection with emotional undertones, often because of disbelief or disdain.

Emotional Weight

'Spurn' is more intense than a polite decline; it carries a sense of harshness or finality.

Intensity of Rejection

'Spurn' is not used in casual conversation; it's more formal and emphasizes the act of rejection.

Not Casual

When 'spurn' describes a physical action, it's often used in a literary, metaphorical way to create a vivid image.

Literary Imagery

The action-related definition of 'spurn' is old-fashioned and not commonly used in modern language.

Archaic Usage

As an archaic term, 'spurn' is used symbolically to represent rejection through a physical act.

Symbolic Action

 but even then, city officials spurned his theory, not wanting to admit that there was human waste in London's water supply, or that they were wrong about miasma theory, which was, after all, hundreds of years old. It wasn't until 1884 that Dr. Snow's efforts

How a few scientists...

 And then all of a sudden I they weren't children; they were boys -- all boys. And Caroline, who had invested so much in E.T., well, she wasn't invited to save him, and she felt humiliated and spurned.

Why women should tell...

 This is hardly the great leader in control, pushed around by the youngest male in the group and spurned by Tuck the only female.