spite

English

Alternative forms

• spight (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: spīt, IPA^(key): /spaɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪt

Etymology 1

From a shortening of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English despit, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French despit (whence despite), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). Compare also Dutch spijt.

Noun

spite (usually uncountable, plural spites)

1. Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; a desire to vex or injure; petty malice

   Synonyms: grudge, rancor.

   He was so filled with spite for his ex-wife, he could not hold down a job.

   They did it just for spite.

   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     This is the deadly spite that angers.

   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

     Out of spite, the human beings pretended not to believe that it was Snowball who had destroyed the windmill: they said that it had fallen down because the walls were too thin.

2. (obsolete) Vexation; chagrin; mortification.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

     "The time is out of joint: O cursed spite."

Translations

ill-will or hatred toward another; a desire to vex or injure

• Armenian: քեն (hy) (kʻen)
• Catalan: despit
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 赌气 (zh) (dǔ qì)

• Czech: zlomyslnost f
• Dutch: boosaardigheid (nl) m, wrok (nl) m
• Estonian: vahkviha
• Finnish: pahansuopuus (fi), ilkeys (fi), häijyys (fi), kauna (fi), katkeruus (fi)
• French: dépit (fr) m, rancune (fr)
• Galician: rancor (gl) f, xenreira f
• German: Boshaftigkeit f, Gehässigkeit (de) f
• Hungarian: rosszindulat (hu), rosszakarat (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: despito (io)
• Irish: aicis f
• Italian: rancore (it), malevolenza (it)
• Maori: kaikino, hūneinei
• Persian: کینه (fa) (kine), زلیفن (fa) (zelifan)
• Portuguese: desprezo (pt) m, rancor (pt) m
• Romanian: ciudă (ro) f, răutate (ro) f, ranchiună (ro) f
• Russian: недоброжелательность (ru) f (nedobroželatelʹnostʹ), враждебность (ru) f (vraždebnostʹ)
• Spanish: despecho (es), rencor (es), malicia (es), ojeriza (es) f
• Swedish: illvilja (sv) c
• Turkish: kin (tr), garez (tr)

vexation, chagrin, mortification

• Dutch: ergernis (nl), droefheid (nl), ascese (nl), irritatie (nl)
• Estonian: tusk (et), meelehärm
• Finnish: mielipaha (fi)
• French: dépit (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: dispetto (it)
• Maori: hūneinei
• Romanian: supărare (ro) f, dispreț (ro) n, vexațiune (ro) f

Verb

1. (transitive) To treat maliciously; to try to injure or thwart.

   She soon married again, to spite her ex-husband.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To be angry at; to hate.
   • (Can we date this quote by Fuller and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The Danes, then […] pagans, spited places of religion.

3. (transitive) To fill with spite; to offend; to vex.
   • (Can we date this quote by Sir W. Temple and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Darius, spited at the Magi, endeavoured to abolish not only their learning, but their language.

Related terms

• spiteful
• in spite of
• despite

Translations

to treat maliciously

• Danish: mishandle
• Dutch: mishandelen (nl)
• Finnish: kiusata (fi), ärsyttää (fi), loukata (fi)
• German: trotzen (de)
• Italian: vessare (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: provocar (pt)
• Romanian: maltrata (ro)
• Russian: насолить (ru) pf (nasolitʹ)

to be angry at; to hate

• Danish: hade
• Dutch: haten (nl)
• Portuguese: desprezar (pt)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: urî (ro)
• Russian: ненавидеть (ru) impf (nenavidetʹ)

to fill with spite

• Hungarian: bosszant (hu)
• Romanian: ofensa (ro), vexa (ro)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: злить (ru) impf (zlitʹ)

See also

• malignant
• malicious

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Preposition

spite

1. Notwithstanding; despite.

Anagrams

• IP set, piets, piste, septi-, stipe

---

Esperanto

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] English spite.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspi.te/

Adverb

spite

1. in spite of
2. defiantly

Usage notes

Often used with the accusative or with the preposition al.

Derived terms

• spit
• spiti