spiteful
Americanadjective
adjective
Synonym Usage
Spiteful, revengeful, vindictive refer to a desire to inflict a wrong or injury on someone, usually in return for one received. Spiteful implies a mean or malicious desire for (often petty) revenge: a spiteful attitude toward a former friend. Revengeful implies a deep, powerful, and continued intent to repay a wrong: a fierce and revengeful spirit. Vindictive does not imply action necessarily, but stresses the unforgiving nature of the avenger: a vindictive look.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of spiteful
A late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at spite, -ful
Explanation
When you're spiteful, you act in a mean way, with a desire to hurt someone. If your little brother was driving you crazy, you could calmly ignore him — or you could give him a spiteful pinch. If you act or speak with the desire to hurt, bother, or infuriate someone, you are being spiteful. You could deliberately hurt someone's feelings or embarrass them with your spiteful words, or you could watch a jealous child give her friend a spiteful shove. The Latin word despectus, or "scorn or contempt," became the English despite, later shortened to spite, or "a desire to hurt someone."
Vocabulary lists containing spiteful
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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The Jungle Book
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Fever 1793
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A year later, Chicago's Spiteful Brewing put out a new imperial IPA with Key lime to start a "social commentary on ignorance."
From Salon • Sep. 24, 2023
Spiteful curses, warring states and the quaint joys of pastoral life intertwine in the “The Deer King,” a gorgeously realized anime epic set in the lush forests of a centuries-old realm.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 15, 2022
Friends dubbed the garden Spiteful Organics and printed sweatshirts of a vole eating a malformed carrot.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 3, 2021
“Love can tell a million stories. Love’s unkind. Spiteful in a million ways.”
From New York Times • Oct. 27, 2016
The round and grape passed between the masts of the Phlegethon and beyond the Spiteful, without striking.
From How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves Updated to 1900 by Kingston, William Henry Giles
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
