spiteful

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for spiteful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Alternative forms

• spightful (obsolete)
• spightfull (obsolete)
• spitefull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English spytefulle, equivalent to spite +‎ -ful.

Adjective

spiteful (comparative spitefuller, superlative spitefullest)

1. Filled with, or showing, spite; having a desire to vex, annoy, or injure; malignant; malicious

Translations

filled with spite

• Catalan: maliciós, rancuniós
• Dutch: hatelijk (nl), rancuneus (nl), onheus (nl)
• French: rancunier (fr)
• German: gehässig (de), boshaft (de)
• Irish: aiciseach, dúchroíoch
• Italian: dispettoso, vendicativo (it)

• Maori: waniwani, turatura
• Portuguese: malévolo (pt), danoso (pt), rancoroso (pt) m
• Romanian: malițios (ro), răutăcios (ro), ranchiunos (ro)
• Russian: зло́бный (ru) (zlóbnyj)
• Spanish: malévolo, rencoroso, venenoso (es)
• Swedish: illvillig (sv), ondskefull (sv)

Further reading

• spiteful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• spiteful in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911