spiteful C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈspaɪtfəl/ UK /ˈspaɪtfəl/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 adj showing or motivated by a desire to hurt or offend Her spiteful remark was clearly meant to wound him. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · showing or motivated by a... maliciousvindictivemalevolentvenomouscattynastyrancorous ↔ Opposites kindbenevolentcharitablegracious Word family Forms spitefully Derived forms spitefullyspitefulness Related forms spitedespite Etymology AI details From spite + -ful; spite is a shortening of despite, from Old French despit, from Latin despectus ('a looking down on'), from despicere ('to look down on'). despit Middle English despectus Latin View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # spiteful **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈspaɪtfəl/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈspaɪtfəl/ ## Meanings 1. showing or motivated by a desire to hurt or offend ## Examples - Her spiteful remark was clearly meant to wound him. ## Synonyms - malicious - vindictive - malevolent - venomous - catty - nasty - rancorous ## Antonyms - kind - benevolent - charitable - gracious ## Derived Forms - spitefully - spitefulness ## Related Forms - spite - despite ## Roots and Affixes - Root: despit - Root: despectus ## Etymology From spite + -ful; spite is a shortening of despite, from Old French despit, from Latin despectus ('a looking down on'), from despicere ('to look down on'). ## AI Etymology Spiteful comes from spite + -ful; spite is a shortening of despite, from Old French despit, from Latin despectus ('a looking down on'), from despicere ('to look down on'). The historical chain includes Old French despit and Latin despectus. Older glosses in the chain include "a looking down on" and "to look down on", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, spiteful is best read as compound, suffixal formation, and borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "showing or motivated by a desire to hurt or offend". English derivatives include spitefully and spitefulness; related forms include spite and despite. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning. ## Topics - Describing Qualities - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown