spiteful

[ spahyt-fuhl ]

adjective

1. full of spite or malice; showing spite; malicious; malevolent; venomous:

   a spiteful child.

   Synonyms: rancorous, cruel, mean, vengeful

   Antonyms: benevolent

ˈspiteful

/ ˈspaɪtfʊl /

adjective

1. full of or motivated by spite; vindictive

Derived Forms

• ˈspitefulness, noun
• ˈspitefully, adverb

Other Words From

• spiteful·ly adverb
• spiteful·ness noun
• un·spiteful adjective
• un·spiteful·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of spiteful¹

A late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; spite, -ful

Synonym Study

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.

Example Sentences

I’ve endured spiteful comments, like the ones I read at Outside that day, throughout my entire life, from being bullied in school to being spit on and harassed in the streets by random strangers.

From Outside Online

With pop-punk intensity, she sing-talks her way through a song that’s unapologetically bitter and spiteful, with a guitar-driven chorus that just asks for a cathartic singalong.

From Time

For example, at ages 8 and 9, children made spiteful choices 41 percent of the time with in-group members and 44 percent of the time with out-group members, as compared with 17 versus 33 percent for 12- and 13-year-olds.

From Nautilus

What remains is just bigotry, and probably a spiteful resistance to being seen as caving in to the relativists.

From The Daily Beast

He describes himself on a train platform in Hanover, spiteful and sexually frustrated, throwing coins on the floor.

From The Daily Beast

Subordinated as it is here rewritten, it does not half express the spiteful independence she assumed to teach Coppy a lesson.

From Project Gutenberg

This was the first time he had smarted in his penetrable part—the skin—and it made him very spiteful.

From Project Gutenberg

This sentence evidently cannot mean that a father may refuse food to his son if the latter is spiteful.

From Project Gutenberg

He was not only terrified but angered, and whirling about, he brought down his gun with spiteful violence on the writhing body.

From Project Gutenberg

No one has yet enjoyed any spiteful fun at Mrs. Depew's expense though many were on the qui vive for entertainment.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• barbed
• catty
• cruel
• hateful
• malicious
• ornery
• snide
• venomous
• vicious
• vindictive