Lewis & Short

con-tŭmēlĭa (post-class. access. form contŭmĭa, Mart. Cap. 4, § 424; cf.: contumia contumelia, Gloss. Isid.), ae, f. [from a root tem, whence also temno, contemno, and contumax; cf. Dig. 47, 10, 1],

  1. I. abuse, insult, affront, reproach, invective, contumely (cf.: injuria, ὕβρις; very freq. and class. in sing. and plur.): contumelia a contemptu dicta est, quia nemo nisi quem contempsit, tali injuriā notat, Sen. Const. 11, 2: patior facile injuriam, si est vacua a contumeliā, Pac. ap. Non. p. 430, 16; cf. Caecil. ib.: contumeliam alteri facere, Plaut. As. 2, 4, 82; Ter. Phorm. 5, 7 (8), 79; cf. id. Eun. 5, 2, 26: contumeliam dicere alicui, Plaut. Curc. 4, 1, 17; id. Bacch. 2, 3, 33; Ter. Phorm. 2, 3, 29; Liv. 25, 22, 13: contumeliam si dicis, audies, Plaut. Ps. 4, 7, 77: jacere in aliquem, Cic. Sull. 7, 23: meretricum perpeti, Ter. Eun. 1, 1, 3; cf. Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 41, § 96: in se accipere, Ter. Eun. 4, 7, 1; cf.: tanta contumelia accepta, Caes. B. G. 7, 10: alicui imponere, Sall. C. 48, 9: quibus tu privatim injurias plurimas contumeliasque imposuisti, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 9, § 20: indignitates contumeliasque perferre, Caes. B. G. 2, 14: graves, severe reproaches (opp. libera consilia), Hor. Epod. 11, 26: aliquid in suam contumeliam vertere, Caes. B. C. 1, 8: per contumeliam, id. ib. 1, 9; Quint. 4, 1, 11: contumeliā perfugae appellari ab aliquo, Caes. B. C. 2, 28; cf. Liv. 3, 50, 6 et saep.: in contumeliam ignominiamque nostram certare juvat, id. 4, 4, 12: contumeliae verborum, Cic. Phil. 11, 2, 5.
    In mal. part., violation, Liv. 8, 28, 2; Auct. Har. Resp. 20, 42.
    The expression facere contumeliam is censured by Cic. (Phil. 3, 9, 22) in the words of Antonius: nulla contumelia est, quam facit dignus; but it is not clear on what grounds (whether as an archaism, or because it is used after the analogy of jacturam facere, in the sense of contumelia adfici); v. Quint. 9, 3, 13, and cf. esp. Gronov. Observv. 3, 8, pp. 488-502 (pp. 241-247 Frotsch.).
    Personified: Contŭmē-lĭa, like Ὕβρις, Cic. Leg. 2, 11, 28.
  2. * II. Transf., injury, assault, annoyance, violence, blows, etc. ( = injuria): naves totae factae ex robore ad quamvis vim et contumeliam perferendam, injury, violence, Caes. B. G. 3, 13; so Phaedr. 1, 2, 21: praeberi ora contumeliis, to the blows, Tac. H. 3, 31; 3, 85: debilitatis suae, annoyance, hardship, Plin. Ep. 8, 18, 9; cf. injuria.