a strong feeling of wanting to hurt, annoy, or upset someone on purpose
Full of anger, Tim knocked over the sandcastle out of pure spite.
In a moment of spite, a young woman erased her roommate’s saved TV show from the DVR.
✦ Comes from Old French “despit”, meaning contempt or scorn, and ultimately from Latin “despectus,” meaning looking down on someone.
to deliberately annoy, hurt, or upset someone
Mia declined the invitation just to spite her ex-partner.
The boy hid the remote to spite his older sister during their movie night.
✦ Developed from the noun sense in the late 1500s, turning the feeling of malice into an action.
used to say that something happens or is true even though another fact makes it surprising or could have stopped it
Despite his bad cold, the boy still rode his bicycle to school.
The family enjoyed their picnic despite the sudden rain shower.
✦ From Middle English, borrowed from Anglo-French despit, from Latin dēspicere “to look down on.” Originally a noun meaning “contempt,” it later developed into the preposition used today.
strong dislike, anger, or contempt that you show toward someone or something (archaic or literary)
The knight refused to kneel, acting out of pure despite.
She spoke with open despite for those who had betrayed her trust.
✦ Same origin as the preposition: Middle English despit, from Old French despeit, from Latin dēspicere “to look down on.” Originally the noun form meaning “contempt, scorn.”
without being prevented or affected by something; despite
They went hiking in spite of the pouring rain.
In spite of his fear of heights, Jack climbed the tall ladder.
✦ Formed in Middle English as a prepositional phrase using the noun “spite” to mean contempt or opposition, later generalized to ‘despite’.
