What does "smite" mean?
A heavy strike with a weapon, tool, or the hand.
Smite
/smaɪt/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A heavy strike with a weapon, tool, or the hand.
- Grammar: smite is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: affect, afflict, afflict, agonize.
- Useful contrasts: benediction, bless, blessing.
- Usage evidence: They say the gods smite evil with thunderbolts.
How to use "smite"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "smite" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "smite" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "smite" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "smite" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "smite" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "affect" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "smite", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A heavy strike with a weapon, tool, or the hand. archaic, rare
"On the other hand , your soft-headed, softhearted sentimentalist, whose heart is in his waistcoat pocket, always at hand for use, he who picks out the pretty parts of modern novels, and the tender parts of affecting tales, never hears of two young people meeting one another, but he begins to think that a smite must follow."
Verb
- 1 To hit; to strike. archaic
"Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
- 2 cause physical pain or suffering in wordnet
- 3 To strike down or kill with godly force.
"And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go."
- 4 inflict a heavy blow on, with the hand, a tool, or a weapon wordnet
- 5 To injure with divine power.
"VERSE 12. And the fourth angel ſounded, and the third part of the ſun was ſmitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the ſtars, ſo as the third part of them was darkened, and the day ſhone not for a third part of it, and the night likewiſe. […] [T]his Jeſus which ſignifies the ſun, was ſmitten with persecution and ſufferings in the time of his miniſtry, that there could but a third part of his heavenly light ſhine upon the people of the Jews, and happy were thoſe that this light did ſhine upon."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 affect suddenly with deep feeling wordnet
- 7 To kill violently; to slay.
""She is sitting in the great hall even now to do justice upon those who would have smitten thee and the Lion.""
- 8 To put to rout in battle; to overthrow by war.
"[…]and it turned out, if you just dumped pure oxygen and kerosene into the combustion chamber, the torpedo would travel at fairly-high speed... just instantaneously in all directions at once, disassembling itself, and any nearby people, with considerable enthusiasm. Explaining that this was entirely-unacceptable behavior for a torpedo that was designed to smite the Emperor's enemies didn't really tend to work out that well, since they hadn't yet invented the Machine Spirit, and, in any case, working out which bit of the torpedo you were supposed to talk to, or possibly scrape off the wall, was somewhat difficult once it had decided to launch a several-hundred-meter search into the realm of the honorable ancestors."
- 9 To afflict; to chasten; to punish.
"Let us not mistake the goodness of God, nor imagine that because he smites us, therefore we are forsaken by him."
- 10 To strike with love or infatuation. figuratively
"Bob was smitten with Laura from the first time he saw her."
Proper Noun
- 1 A river in Nottinghamshire, with its headwaters in Leicestershire, England, which joins the River Devon, near Shelton.
Antonyms
Example
"They say the gods smite evil with thunderbolts."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "smite"?
Common synonyms include: affect, afflict, afflict, agonize, assault, bang.
How do you use "smite" in a sentence?
They say the gods smite evil with thunderbolts.
How do you pronounce "smite"?
Pronounced /smaɪt/.
Etymology
From Middle English smiten, from Old English smītan (“to daub, smear, smudge; soil, defile, pollute”), from Proto-West Germanic *smītan, from Proto-Germanic *smītaną (“to sling; throw; smear”), from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd- (“to smear, whisk, strike, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian smiete (“to throw, toss”), West Frisian smite (“to throw”), Dutch smijten (“to fling, hurl, throw”), German Low German smieten (“to throw, chuck, toss”), German schmeißen (“to fling, throw”), Danish smide (“to throw”), Swedish smita (“to run off (to)”), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌼𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bismeitan, “to besmear, anoint”).