spite

[ spahyt ]
See synonyms for spite on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a malicious, usually petty, desire to harm, annoy, frustrate, or humiliate another person; bitter ill will; malice.

  2. a particular instance of such an attitude or action; grudge.

  1. Obsolete. something that causes vexation; annoyance.

verb (used with object),spit·ed, spit·ing.
  1. to treat with spite or malice.

  2. to annoy or thwart, out of spite.

  1. to fill with spite; vex; offend.

Idioms about spite

  1. cut off one's nose to spite one's face. nose (def. 23).

  2. in spite of, in disregard or defiance of; notwithstanding; despite: She arrived at school on time in spite of the snowstorm.

Origin of spite

1
1250–1300; Middle English; aphetic variant of despite

synonym study For spite

1. See grudge. 8. See notwithstanding.

Other words for spite

Other words from spite

  • spiteless, adjective
  • un·spit·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use spite in a sentence

  • He spites him by damaging his plants all he can in a sly and ingenious way.

    The Browning Cyclopdia | Edward Berdoe
  • And soon she began to appreciate the small spites and cliques, the little misunderstandings and alliances that enmeshed about her.

    Tales of Space and Time | Herbert George Wells
  • What spites and quarrels are still flourishing among my old neighbours which owe their origin to that election!

  • Herein lay ample scope for those small spites and jealousies that are more than bread and meat to women of a certain type.

  • There were old neighborhood spites and feuds going back, dividing blood from blood—even brothers of the same blood.

    The Desert and The Sown | Mary Hallock Foote

British Dictionary definitions for spite

spite

/ (spaɪt) /


noun
  1. maliciousness involving the desire to harm another; venomous ill will

  2. an instance of such malice; grudge

  1. archaic something that induces vexation

  2. in spite of (preposition) in defiance of; regardless of; notwithstanding

verb(tr)
  1. to annoy in order to vent spite

  2. archaic to offend

Origin of spite

1
C13: variant of despite

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with spite

spite

see in spite of.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.