# spite

Pronunciation: say "SPYT" /spaɪt/

## Noun

1. Ill will toward another person, joined with a desire to annoy, hurt, or frustrate them, often without fair cause.
   - Simple: A mean wish to annoy or upset someone, often for no good reason.
   - _His refusal to help seemed driven by nothing but spite._
   - _Out of spite, she gave away the tickets she knew her sister wanted._

## Verb

2. To treat someone maliciously, trying to hurt them or thwart what they want.
   - Simple: To act in a mean way toward someone in order to hurt or upset them.
   - _They cut down the old tree to spite the neighbors who loved its shade._
   - _He resigned publicly to spite the manager who had blocked his promotion._
3. To fill someone with annoyance; to offend or vex them.
   - Simple: To annoy or upset someone, leaving them hurt or angry.
   - _The public snub spited her deeply, and she nursed the grievance for weeks._
   - _Careless remarks spite people more than the speaker ever realizes._

## Preposition

4. In older writing, despite: used before a noun naming an obstacle or an opposing fact, to show that something happens or holds true anyway. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old way of saying despite. It shows that something happens even though a problem is in the way.

## Noun

5. A feeling of vexation, chagrin, or mortification. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A feeling of being upset, embarrassed, or annoyed.

## Verb

6. To feel anger toward or hatred of someone. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To hate someone or feel very angry at them.

## Origin

This word comes from Middle English spit, a shortened form of despit (which also gave us "despite"). That came from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum ("looking down on"), from dēspiciō ("to look down, despise").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/spite (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).