Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Full of malice; spiteful.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Full of despite or spite; malicious; spiteful: as, a despiteful enemy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Full of despite; expressing malice or contemptuous hate; malicious.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Full of despite.
  • adjective Expressing malice or contemptuous hate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt; motivated by spite

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Thirty five years of despiteful disrespect of American voters has led you to this defeat by a lone black candidate that you and your war/slime machine would never believe could happen.

    Clinton chastises press for ignoring sexism 2008

  • I remembered what the Bible said about doing good to those who treated you in a despiteful way.

    Archive 2006-05-01 2006

  • I remembered what the Bible said about doing good to those who treated you in a despiteful way.

    Don't Give Up 2006

  • Then the old woman went out with the young lady Khatun, saying to her, “Inshallah, O my daughter, when thou hast visited the Shaykh Abu al-Hamlat, there shall betide thee solace of soul and by leave of Almighty Allah thou shalt conceive, and thy husband the Emir shall love thee by the blessing of the Shaykh and shall never again let thee hear a despiteful word.”

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • After which I, coming on deck again, stumbled over that very lad, upon the hatchway ladder, who bore so black and despiteful a face, that

    Westward Ho! 2007

  • Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;

    Villaraigosa And Nunez Cut And Run - Video Report 2006

  • Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred;

    Probably Just One Of Those Funny Coincidences 2006

  • And they be full wicked Saracens and cruel, and more despiteful than in any other place, and have destroyed all the churches.

    The Travels of Sir John Mandeville 2004

  • Canst thou forget to take revenge of those wild people who have defaced my monument in a despiteful manner, disdaining our antiquities and honorable customs?

    The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon 2002

  • O false death, how injurious and despiteful hast thou been to me!

    Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002

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