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.
And you thought spiteful stepmothers wreaked havoc only in fairy tales.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
"Tourette's can feel spiteful and searches out the most upsetting tic for me personally and for those around me," he explained.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
"He is a very bad person, very spiteful," Jorge said of Cabello.
From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2026
One writer noted there was “no great compliment involved in having this spiteful looking object for a namesake.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2025
Sure that Sylvia was snitching, Louie refused to sit at the supper table with her, eating his meals in spiteful solitude off the open oven door.
From "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
