smite
Americanverb (used with object)
-
smites,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smote,
past participle, past
-
smit,
past (Obsolete)
-
smitten,
past participle
-
smiting
present participle
-
to strike or hit hard, with or as with the hand, a stick, or other weapon.
She smote him on the back with her umbrella.
-
to deliver or deal (a blow, hit, etc.) by striking hard.
-
to strike down, injure, or slay.
His sword had smitten thousands.
-
to afflict or attack with deadly or disastrous effect.
smitten by polio.
-
to affect mentally or morally with a sudden pang.
His conscience smote him.
-
to affect suddenly and strongly with a specified feeling.
They were smitten with terror.
-
to impress favorably; charm; enamor.
He was smitten by her charms.
verb (used without object)
-
smites,
present (3rd person singular)
-
smote,
past participle, past
-
smit,
past (Obsolete)
-
smitten,
past participle
-
smiting
present participle
idioms
verb
-
to strike with a heavy blow or blows
-
to damage with or as if with blows
-
to afflict or affect severely
smitten with flu
-
to afflict in order to punish
-
to strike forcibly or abruptly
the sun smote down on him
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
smitesimple
-
smitessimple
-
have smittenperfect
-
have smoteperfect
-
has smittenperfect
-
has smoteperfect
-
am smitingprogressive
-
are smitingprogressive
-
is smitingprogressive
-
have been smitingperfect progressive
-
has been smitingperfect progressive
Past
-
smitsimple
-
smotesimple
-
had smittenperfect
-
had smoteperfect
-
was smitingprogressive
-
were smitingprogressive
-
had been smitingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of smite
First recorded before 900; Middle English smiten, Old English smītan; cognate with German schmeissen “to throw,” Dutch smijten
Explanation
To smite is to strike with a heavy blow. If you’re playing an ancient Norse warrior in a play, you might get to smite your enemy with a club. Smite comes from the old English for striking or smearing. You’re most likely to find it reading Biblical stories or mythologies, for example, where the thunderbolt of Zeus smites some misbehaving Greek fellow. The past participle of this verb is the cool word smitten, which is what you say about someone who's fallen head over heels for something or someone, that is, their emotions have been struck.
Vocabulary lists containing smite
The Hobbit
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"To Build a Fire," Vocabulary from the short story
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Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
See Examples For:
“Curtis and I served together in the state Senate, he is your state senator. He is Republican. I am a Democrat. But when we team up in a bipartisan manner, we will smite evil.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 25, 2024
He can create countless jobs with a flick of his fingers, and smite al-Qaeda leaders with the lightning that flies from his open palms.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2022
On it, we hear a 31-year-old woman impersonating her 19-year-old self reflecting on her 15-year-old self, and doing it all to smite the men who hoped to seize control of her songs.
From New York Times ● Dec. 22, 2021
She can’t summon Jason from the depths to smite the iniquitous.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2021
The idea clearly was that the colonists, enraged by the putative assault, would rise up and smite Massasoit.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Indecent exposure … Fantasy author Terry Goodkind has publicly castigated a pirate of his ebook Wizard hero Richard Rahl smites wrongdoers with his Sword of Truth.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 11, 2012
"He plays silly shots to get out and bowls lots of pies but inbetween times he smites big sixes and bowls unplayable deliveries."
From The Guardian ● Jan. 12, 2011
Pareja nods away a long high ball, but it drops out to the onrushing Russian, who smites the thing first time, dipping and fizzing past Dykan in the Spartak goal.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 19, 2010
What is this strange, perplexing passion that smites the child of nature?
From Time Magazine Archive
Their mighty voice thunders out and smites the heart of the awakening sleeper.
From From the Easy Chair, series 3 by George William Curtis
By your example would Hilario mend, How would it grace the talents of my friend, Who, with the charms of his own genius smit, Conceives all virtues are compris'd in wit!
From The Poetical Works of Edward Young, Volume 2 by Edward Young
There the steel hisses and the sparks upleap, And clanging anvils, smit with dexterous aim, Groan through the cavern, as their strokes they heap, And restless in the furnace pants the flame.
From The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor by Edward Fairfax Taylor
They’re fleid to smit their ain litlins; and as it happens, Sam’l’s friends is a’ aff to the glen.
From The Little Minister by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
But we say likewise, thrive, rise, smit, writ, abid, rid.
From A Grammar of the English Tongue by Samuel Johnson
From nature’s birth, hence, wisdom has been smit With sweet recess, and languish’d for the shade.
From Young's Night Thoughts With Life, Critical Dissertation and Explanatory Notes by Edward Young
I’ve never touched a gun nor smote anything larger than a stink bug.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 18, 2025
Like the Boston Red Sox finally beating the Yankees in 2004, Buffalo smote their longtime nemesis in epic fashion.
From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2022
So went Robert Downey Jr. from the presence of Jimmy Fallon and smote the entire internet with an unwatchable video.
From Slate ● Apr. 26, 2018
In which arena rock was smote upside the backside by the punk movement.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2016
The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
The early days of their relationship played out on the series, with both Hall and DelVecchio smitten from the start.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
Parkin encouraged people to watch the phenomenon, himself profoundly affected by seeing his first eclipse that had left him "smitten".
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
But he quickly was smitten with the game and the tournament — so much so he has attended every World Cup since 1990.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
It turned out that Santa had just seen Miller at a tournament in Florida—and he was smitten.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
His face was twisted with amazement and anger to the likeness of some wild beast that, as it crouches on its prey, is smitten on the muzzle with a stinging rod.
From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Mr. Harbour shines as the jolly, but surprisingly in shape, fat man smiting foes with a Christmas star, icicles and even a lethal candy cane.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
“Even in Akhenaten’s time, so much of her iconography was that of a male king, smiting enemies and doing things like that.”
From Scientific American ● Nov. 4, 2022
There is a kind of literary symmetry to Ms. Newman’s smiting her former boss with the very tools he taught her to use.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2018
Sure they’re great for smiting your enemies, but I bet they’re also perfect for quickly taking you to a tropical getaway.
From The Verge ● Jun. 28, 2016
Thence it turned, smiting the Vale of Anduin with hail and lightning, and casting its shadow upon Minas Tirith with threat of war.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
