dispiteous

[dis-pit-ee-uh s]

adjective Archaic.

malicious; cruel; pitiless.

Origin of dispiteous

1795–1805; earlier despiteous, alteration, after piteous, of dispitous, despitous, Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French; see despite, -ous; later taken as dis-¹ + piteous

Related formsdis·pit·e·ous·ly, adverbdis·pit·e·ous·ness, noun