- a feeling of wanting to hurt or upset somebody synonym malice
- out of spite I'm sure he only said it out of spite.
Extra Examples- He vented his spite on his grandfather.
- I felt no spite towards her.
- She killed her boss's dog out of pure spite.
- She was angry and full of spite.
- This was her final act of spite.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- pure
- sheer
- personal
- …
- be full of
- feel
- vent
- …
- out of spite
- with spite
- spite towards/toward
- …
Word OriginMiddle English: shortening of Old French despit ‘contempt’, despiter ‘show contempt for’.
Idioms
See spite in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee spite in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishin spite of something
- if you say that somebody did something in spite of a fact, you mean it is surprising that that fact did not prevent them from doing it synonym despite
- In spite of his age, he still leads an active life.
- They went swimming in spite of all the danger signs.
- English became the official language for business in spite of the fact that the population was largely Chinese.
Language Bank howeverhoweverWays of saying ‘but’- Politicians have promised to improve road safety. So far, however, little has been achieved.
- Despite clear evidence from road safety studies, no new measures have been introduced.
- Politicians have promised to improve road safety. In spite of this/Despite this, little has been achieved so far.
- Although politicians have promised to improve road safety, little has been achieved so far.
- Some politicians claim that the new transport policy has been a success. In fact, it has been a total disaster.
- Government campaigns have had a measure of success, but the fact remains that large numbers of accidents are still caused by careless drivers.
in spite of yourself
- if you do something in spite of yourself, you do it although you did not intend or expect to
- He fell asleep, in spite of himself.
- In spite of herself, tears welled up in her eyes.
Check pronunciation:
spite