spite
verb/spaɪt/
/spaɪt/
only used in the infinitive with toVerb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they spite | /spaɪt/ /spaɪt/ |
| he / she / it spites | /spaɪts/ /spaɪts/ |
| past simple spited | /ˈspaɪtɪd/ /ˈspaɪtɪd/ |
| past participle spited | /ˈspaɪtɪd/ /ˈspaɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form spiting | /ˈspaɪtɪŋ/ /ˈspaɪtɪŋ/ |
- spite somebody to deliberately annoy or upset somebody
- They're playing the music so loud just to spite us.
Word OriginMiddle English: shortening of Old French despit ‘contempt’, despiter ‘show contempt for’.Definitions on the go
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Idioms
See spite in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarycut off your nose to spite your face
- (informal) to do something when you are angry that is meant to harm somebody else but that also harms you
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spite