despiteful

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /dɪˈspaɪtfəl/ UK /dɪˈspaɪtfəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
(archaic) full of spite; malicious

Her despiteful remarks were meant only to wound.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · (archaic) full of spite;... spiteful malicious malevolent vindictive venomous contemptuous

Opposites

benevolent kind charitable

Word family

Forms despitefully

Derived forms despitefullydespitefulness

Related forms despite spite despise

Etymology

From despite ('contempt, spite') + -ful. Despite is from Old French despit, from Latin despectus ('a looking down on, contempt'), from despicere ('to look down on').

despectus Latin specere Latin *spek- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives Register & Style

External links

# despiteful

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /dɪˈspaɪtfəl/
**IPA (UK):** /dɪˈspaɪtfəl/

## Meanings
1. (archaic) full of spite; malicious

## Examples
- Her despiteful remarks were meant only to wound.

## Synonyms
- spiteful
- malicious
- malevolent
- vindictive
- venomous
- contemptuous

## Antonyms
- benevolent
- kind
- charitable

## Derived Forms
- despitefully
- despitefulness

## Related Forms
- despite
- spite
- despise

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: despectus
- Root: specere - to look at
- Root: *spek-

## Etymology
From despite ('contempt, spite') + -ful. Despite is from Old French despit, from Latin despectus ('a looking down on, contempt'), from despicere ('to look down on').

## AI Etymology
Despiteful comes from despite ('contempt, spite') + -ful. Despite is from Old French despit, from Latin despectus ('a looking down on, contempt'), from despicere ('to look down on'). The historical trail runs through Latin despectus, Latin specere and Proto-Indo-European *spek-. Morphologically, the surface form is analyzable into prefixes, suffixes, compounds, or participial endings that carry part of the history. In modern use it means (archaic) full of spite; malicious. Derived formations include despitefully, despitefulness; related forms include despite, spite, despise.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives
- Register & Style

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