# familiarity breeds contempt

idiom · CEFR B2

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/familiarity-breeds-contempt
Updated: 2026-06-07

## Meaning

The better you know someone the less you like him

## Examples

- They argue more now because familiarity breeds contempt.
- After living together for three years, they started to notice every small habit, proving that familiarity breeds contempt.
- The manager worried that spending too much time with his staff would cause familiarity to breed contempt and weaken his authority.

## Origin

From Aesop's fable 'The Fox and the Lion'; the Latin maxim appears in Publilius Syrus, and Chaucer used it in the Tale of Melibee (c. 1386).

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.