despiteful
Americanadjective
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malicious; spiteful.
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Obsolete. contemptuous; insolent.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of despiteful
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.
He then set up his counter-challenge, and in one hour afterwards Johnson arrogantly accepted it, “in a most despiteful and disgraceful manner.”
From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 by Isaac Disraeli
It is in the very nature of poetical justice that it satisfies the emotions, and I was not displeased to see affairs take this sudden turn, to view the hard and despiteful heart thus humbled.
From Schwartz: A History From "Schwartz" by David Christie Murray by David Christie Murray
For slight is of three kinds, as stated in Rhet. ii, 2, viz. "contempt," "despiteful treatment," i.e. hindering one from doing one's will, and "insolence": and all motives of anger are reduced to these three.
From Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) From the Complete American Edition by Saint Thomas Aquinas
Further, as a Castilian gentleman, do you agree with the author’s most despiteful entreatment of that sweet sex for whose sake all romances were written?
From Legends & Romances of Spain by Lewis Spence
But when Theseus heard the story, he straightened himself up, so that he seemed taller than ever before; and as for his face it was indignant, despiteful, bold, tender, and compassionate, all in one look.
From Tanglewood Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne
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