insult
Do not insult insult comics during their performances.
The sentence advises against verbally offending comedians who specialize in insult-based humor.
Meanings
to speak to someone with disrespect or scornful abuse
- He insulted the waiter for forgetting the order.
- Don't insult my intelligence.
a disrespectful or scornfully abusive remark or action
- The crude insult was beneath him.
- She brushed off the insults with grace.
Word origin
From Latin insultāre ('to leap upon, scorn'), formed from in- ('upon') + saltāre ('to jump'). The original Latin meaning was physical — to literally leap on a defeated enemy in triumph. The verbal 'insult' meaning developed from the metaphor of mockery as triumphant assault. The verb-noun stress alternation follows the trochaic noun rule.
Fun fact
Insult comedy ('comedy roasts') is a long tradition with deep linguistic irony: comedians who insult professionally have to be exceptionally good at NOT insulting (i.e., not crossing into actual cruelty). The genre walks the line between the verb 'to insult' and the noun 'an insult' — calculated cruelty performed as art.