Spite
noun, prep, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another; mild malice uncountable, usually
"He was so filled with spite for his ex-wife, his brother was afraid of what he might do."
- 2 malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty wordnet
- 3 Vexation; chagrin; mortification. obsolete, uncountable, usually
""The time is out of joint: O cursed spite.""
- 4 feeling a need to see others suffer wordnet
- 1 To treat maliciously; to try to hurt or thwart. transitive
"She soon married again, to spite her ex-husband."
- 2 hurt the feelings of wordnet
- 3 To be angry at; to hate. obsolete, transitive
"The Danes, then […] pagans, principally spited places of religion."
- 4 To fill with spite; to offend; to vex. transitive
"But the laſt and fatal Blow, given to that antient Learning, was in the time of Darius, Father of Xerxes, who with the reſt of the Perſians, ſpighted at the Magi, upon the Uſurpation of the Crown by one of their Number, (that counterfeited a younger Son of Cyrus after the Death of Cambyſes,) when he came to be ſetled in that Throne, endeavour'd to aboliſh, not only their Learning and Credit, but their Language too, by changing the old Aſſyrian Characters, and introducing thoſe of Perſia, which grew to be the common Uſe of that whole Empire."
- 1 Notwithstanding; despite.
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"In spite of the rain, we enjoyed our holiday."
Etymology
From Middle English spit, a shortening of despit (whence despite), from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from Latin dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). Compare also Dutch spijt and German Spiet.
Related phrases
More for "spite"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.