/spaɪt/
OriginFrom Middle English spit, a shortening of despit (whence despite), from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from Latin dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). Compare also Dutch spijt and German Spiet.
- uncountable, usuallyIll will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another; mild malice
“He was so filled with spite for his ex-wife, his brother was afraid of what he might do.”
“They did it just for spite.”
“This is the deadly spite that angers.”
- obsolete, uncountable, usuallyVexation; chagrin; mortification.
“"The time is out of joint: O cursed spite."”
- transitiveTo treat maliciously; to try to hurt or thwart.
“She soon married again, to spite her ex-husband.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo be angry at; to hate.
“The Danes, then […] pagans, principally spited places of religion.”
- transitiveTo fill with spite; to offend; to vex.
“But the laſt and fatal Blow, given to that antient Learning, was in the time of Darius, Father of Xerxes, who with the reſt of the Perſians, ſpighted at the Magi, upon the Uſurpation of the Crown by o”
- Notwithstanding; despite.
Formsspites(plural) · spight(alternative, obsolete) · spites(present, singular, third-person) · spiting(participle, present) · spited(participle, past) · spited(past)