Adjacent Words

Spite definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPITE, n. [L.] Hatred; rancor; malice; malignity; malevolence.
Spite, however, is not always synonymous with these words. It often denotes a less deliberate and fixed hatred than malice and malignity, and is often a sudden fit of ill will excited by temporary vexation. It is the effect of extreme irritation, and is accompanied with a desire of revenge, or at least a desire to vex the object of ill will.
Be gone, ye critics, and restrain your spite; Codrus writes on, and will for ever write.
In spite of, in opposition to all efforts; in defiance or contempt of. Sometimes spite of is used without in, but not elegantly. It is often used without expressing any malignity of meaning.
Whom God made use of to speak a word in season, and saved me in spite of the world, the devil and myself.
In spite of all applications, the patient grew worse every day.
To owe one a spite, to entertain a temporary hatred for something.
SPITE, v.t.
1. To be angry or vexed at.
2. To mischief; to vex; to treat maliciously; to thwart.
3. To fill with spite or vexation; to offend; to vex.
Darius, spited at the Magi, endeavored to abolish not only their learning but their language. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: feeling a need to see others suffer [syn: malice, maliciousness, spite, spitefulness, venom]
2: malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty [syn: cattiness, bitchiness, spite, spitefulness, nastiness] v
1: hurt the feelings of; "She hurt me when she did not include me among her guests"; "This remark really bruised my ego" [syn: hurt, wound, injure, bruise, offend, spite]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, short for despite Date: 14th century 1. petty ill will or hatred with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart 2. an instance of spite Synonyms: see malice II. transitive verb (spited; spiting) Date: circa 1555 1. a. annoy, offend b. to fill with spite 2. to treat maliciously (as by shaming or thwarting)

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 ill will, malice towards a person (did it from spite). 2 a grudge. --v.tr. thwart, mortify, annoy (does it to spite me). Phrases and idioms: in spite of notwithstanding. in spite of oneself etc. though one would rather have done otherwise. Etymology: ME f. OF despit DESPITE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spite Spite, n. [Abbreviated fr. despite.] 1. Ill-will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; petty malice; grudge; rancor; despite. --Pope. This is the deadly spite that angers. --Shak. 2. Vexation; chargrin; mortification. [R.] --Shak. In spite of, or Spite of, in opposition to all efforts of; in defiance or contempt of; notwithstanding. ``Continuing, spite of pain, to use a knee after it had been slightly ibnjured.'' --H. Spenser. ``And saved me in spite of the world, the devil, and myself.'' --South. ``In spite of all applications, the patient grew worse every day.'' --Arbuthnot. See Syn. under Notwithstanding. To owe one a spite, to entertain a mean hatred for him. Syn: Pique, rancor; malevolence; grudge. Usage: Spite, Malice. Malice has more reference to the disposition, and spite to the manifestation of it in words and actions. It is, therefore, meaner than malice, thought not always more criminal. `` Malice . . . is more frequently employed to express the dispositions of inferior minds to execute every purpose of mischief within the more limited circle of their abilities.'' --Cogan. ``Consider eke, that spite availeth naught.'' --Wyatt. See Pique.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spite Spite, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Spited; p. pr. & vb. n. Spiting.] 1. To be angry at; to hate. [Obs.] The Danes, then . . . pagans, spited places of religion. --Fuller. 2. To treat maliciously; to try to injure or thwart. 3. To fill with spite; to offend; to vex. [R.] Darius, spited at the Magi, endeavored to abolish not only their learning, but their language. --Sir. W. Temple.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. You use in spite of to introduce a fact which makes the rest of the statement you are making seem surprising. Their love of life comes in spite of, almost in defiance of, considerable hardship. = despite PREP-PHRASE 2. If you do something in spite of yourself, you do it although you did not really intend to or expect to. The blunt comment made Richard laugh in spite of himself... PREP-PHRASE: PREP pron-refl 3. If you do something cruel out of spite, you do it because you want to hurt or upset someone. I refused her a divorce, out of spite I suppose... 4. If you do something cruel to spite someone, you do it in order to hurt or upset them. Pantelaras was giving his art collection away for nothing, to spite Marie and her husband. VERB: only to-inf, V n 5. to cut off your nose to spite your face: see nose

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Malice, malevolence, rancor, venom, gall, malignity, maliciousness, hate, grudge, pique, ill-nature, ill-will, hatred, vindictiveness, spleen. 2. Defiance, opposition, despite, contempt. 3. Trouble, vexation, chagrin, mortification. II. v. a. 1. Mortify, thwart, injure, treat maliciously. 2. Offend, annoy, vex.

Moby Thesaurus

Anglophobia, Russophobia, Schadenfreude, abhorrence, abomination, animosity, annoy, antagonism, anti-Semitism, antipathy, aversion, belligerence, bigotry, bitchiness, bitterness, bone to pick, cattiness, clash, clashing, collision, conflict, contention, crow to pick, crow to pluck, despite, despitefulness, detestation, discomfit, disconcert, dislike, execration, friction, gall and wormwood, gloating pleasure, grudge, hate, hatred, hostility, hurt, ignoring, ill, ill will, in defiance of, in spite of, injure, irritate, loathing, malevolence, malice, maliciousness, malignity, misandry, misanthropy, misogyny, needle, notwithstanding, odium, offend, peeve, pet peeve, pique, provoke, put out, quarrelsomeness, race hatred, racism, rancor, regardless of, repugnance, resentment, spitefulness, spleen, unholy joy, upset, venom, vex, vials of hate, vials of wrath, vindictiveness, wound, xenophobia