spite

American  

[spahyt] / spaɪt /

noun

1. a malicious, usually petty, desire to harm, annoy, frustrate, or humiliate another person; bitter ill will; malice.

   Synonyms:

   spleen, venom, rancor, maliciousness, malevolence

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

3. Obsolete. something that causes vexation; annoyance.

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verb (used with object)

• spites,
  present (3rd person singular)
• spited,
  past participle,  past
• spiting
  present participle

1. to treat with spite or malice.

2. to annoy or thwart, out of spite.

3. to fill with spite; vex; offend.

idioms

1. in spite of, in disregard or defiance of; notwithstanding; despite.

   She arrived at school on time in spite of the snowstorm.

2. cut off one's nose to spite one's face. nose.

spite British  

/ spaɪt /

noun

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

2. an instance of such malice; grudge

3. archaic something that induces vexation

4. (preposition) in defiance of; regardless of; notwithstanding

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verb

1. to annoy in order to vent spite

2. archaic to offend

spite More Idioms  

1. see in spite of.

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Synonym Usage

See grudge. See notwithstanding.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• spiteless
  adjective
• unspited
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• spiting
  present
• spited
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• spite
  simple
• spites
  simple
• have spited
  perfect
• has spited
  perfect
• am spiting
  progressive
• are spiting
  progressive
• is spiting
  progressive
• have been spiting
  perfect progressive
• has been spiting
  perfect progressive

Past

• spited
  simple
• had spited
  perfect
• was spiting
  progressive
• were spiting
  progressive
• had been spiting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will spite
  simple
• will have spited
  perfect
• will be spiting
  progressive
• will have been spiting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of spite

1250–1300; Middle English; aphetic variant of despite

Explanation

When your sister told you that you looked terrible in your new tube top, she may have been saying it out of spite, or in a deliberately mean or offensive way. The noun spite means "a desire to offend." The word spite can also take the form of a verb, when it's used like this: "He only became a vegetarian to spite his cattle rancher father." Either way, spite implies a grudge, a desire to offend or hurt the feelings of someone by actions or words.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spite spites spited spiting

This was in spite of the fact that the 14th Amendment grants birthright citizenship to “all persons” who are born in the United States and subject to its laws.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

But as they began house hunting in April they quickly realized that. in spite of high home prices and elevated mortgage rates, the Peabody market was exceptionally hot.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

Insects are the most diverse and abundant group of animals on the planet, but in spite of this dominance they are the most threatened.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

The impact of higher energy prices on U.K. inflation has been limited, in spite of the unstable nature of the conflict in the Middle East.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

In spite of the grand accommodations, many of the dogs preferred to sleep outside their houses in the snow.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

“In this small, final, seemingly quiet but ultimately volcanic book of stories, Trevor denies and defies — maybe spites — the promise of decline,” Cynthia Ozick wrote here.

From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2020

These days, archbishops tend to have more Christian charity, while the petty spites and preposterous self-importance of their 1936 counterparts have been transferred to breakfast television presenters and so on.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 9, 2020

There are "get-out-of-my-sight" scenes that have not been witnessed since Bette Davis hung up her spites.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is tune the old cold warrior hung up his spites.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her time with Tariq’s family always felt natural to Laila, effortless, uncomplicated by differences in tribe or language, or by the personal spites and grudges that infected the air at her own home.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

A sample: During the chorus, Swift proves once more that she’d make a fantastic BuzzFeed writer, telling us about yet another list she keeps of those who spited her.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2017

Last week Bush spited journalists who prematurely published the identity of his choice for Transportation Secretary by postponing the nomination of Chicago attorney Samuel Skinner.

From Time Magazine Archive

But Tiny lived, and spited them, and waxed fat and bunchy, while Bunch astonished them all by waning lean and tiny.

From Happy Days for Boys and Girls by Various

And it is here as in the court, where the nearest are most spited, and all blows aimed at the toucher.

From Character Writings of the 17th Century by Various

Then she was some spited that I wouldn't buy a box of complexion lotion off of her.

From Tillie, a Mennonite Maid; a Story of the Pennsylvania Dutch by Helen Reimensnyder Martin

In Free, she depicts it as a bored child, picking her up and putting her down, chewing her up and spiting her out "a hundred times a day".

From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2022

And spitting is still socially acceptable - be it chewing tobacco, sportsmen spiting on camera or Bollywood portrayals of men spitting while fighting each other.

From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2021

When James rejects the idea, Rhythm kidnaps Dom, spiting him away into a virtual “Serververse.”

From Washington Post ● Jul. 14, 2021

So do you not watch, to enlarge the collective spiting of him?

From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2021

He couldn’t get his way this time—not after threatening their fives and sending them to make Achelous miserable for the sake of spiting Hera.

From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan