SPITE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does spite mean? 

• SPITE (noun)
  The noun SPITE has 2 senses:

1. feeling a need to see others suffer

2. malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty

  Familiarity information: SPITE used as a noun is rare.

• SPITE (verb)
  The verb SPITE has 1 sense:

1. hurt the feelings of

  Familiarity information: SPITE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPITE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Feeling a need to see others suffer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

malice; maliciousness; spite; spitefulness; venom

Hypernyms ("spite" is a kind of...):

malevolence; malignity (wishing evil to others)

Derivation:

spite (hurt the feelings of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

bitchiness; cattiness; nastiness; spite; spitefulness

Hypernyms ("spite" is a kind of...):

malevolence; malevolency; malice (the quality of threatening evil)

Derivation:

spite (hurt the feelings of)

• SPITE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they spite    ... he / she / it spites   
Past simple: spited   
Past participle: spited   
-ing form: spiting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hurt the feelings of

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

bruise; hurt; injure; offend; spite; wound

Context example:

This remark really bruised my ego

Hypernyms (to "spite" is one way to...):

arouse; elicit; enkindle; evoke; fire; kindle; provoke; raise (call forth (emotions, feelings, and responses))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "spite"):

affront; diss; insult (treat, mention, or speak to rudely)

lacerate (deeply hurt the feelings of; distress)

sting (cause an emotional pain, as if by stinging)

abase; chagrin; humble; humiliate; mortify (cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot spite Sue

Derivation:

spite (malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty)

spite (feeling a need to see others suffer)

 Context examples 

Yet, he must leave them at the end of a week, in spite of their wishes and his own, and without any restraint on his time.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

In spite of all her faults, she knew she was dear to him; might she not say, very dear?

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But you like me in spite of it?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I have no doubt that, in spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I said—or something in me said for me, and in spite of me—Thank you, Mr. Rochester, for your great kindness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was absolutely certain, therefore, in spite of her denial, that she must know something of the matter.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Grey Beaver was his own particular god, and, in spite of Grey Beaver's will, White Fang still clung to him and would not give him up.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I confided all to my aunt when I got home; and in spite of all she could say to me, went to bed despairing.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In spite of herself, she could not help half a smile, but she said nothing.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But the three days’ rest was good in spite of it all, for it had given my knee the very chance it needed.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)