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.
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
"Heard you ever, my lords, a more despiteful and treasonable letter?"
From John Knox by William M. (William Mackergo) Taylor
It was a habit of mind—the only revenge that I could take upon despiteful Fate.
From The Inheritors by Joseph Conrad
It is rather that under modern civilised conditions, and among a people governed by sentiments of humanity and equity, the stranger within our gates suffers no obloquy and no despiteful usage for being a stranger.
From An Inquiry Into The Nature Of Peace And The Terms Of Its Perpetuation by Thorstein Veblen
He saw in her but the despiteful, revengeful handmaid; he forgot that she was an injured wife—a neglected mother.
From Notable Women of Olden Time by Anonymous
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.
