look down on — consider inferior
phrasal verbB2IELTS 6+neutralcommon
To think that you are better than someone else, or to treat someone as if they are less important.
Say it like a native
Textbook She regards manual labourers as her social inferiors.
Native She looks down on people who work with their hands.
'Look down on' is the everyday phrase; the formal version is cold.
Pattern: look down on sb
In use
- Some people look down on others just because they have less money.relationships
- In my opinion, it's wrong to look down on people who have different jobs or backgrounds. Everyone deserves respect.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ She looks down to poor people.
✓ She looks down on poor people.
It's 'look down ON someone', not 'down to'.
Common collocations
look down on— on, others, people who, rather
Don't confuse it
Not the same as 'look up to', which means to admire someone.