Wiktionary

despite

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

  • (UK) IPA(key): /dɪˈspaɪt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪt

Etymology 1 edit

The noun is from Middle English despit, dispit, from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”).

The preposition is from Middle English dispit, from the phrase in dispit of (in despite of).[1][2]

Preposition edit

despite

  1. In spite of, notwithstanding.
Usage notes edit

The terms despite of, despite that, and in despite of are archaic, nonstandard, or almost universally considered incorrect.

Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Noun edit

despite (countable and uncountable, plural despites)

  1. (obsolete) Disdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.
    • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.:
      A fals double tunge is more fiers and fell
      Then Cerberus the cur couching in the kenel of hel;
      Wherof hereafter, I thinke for to write,
      Of fals double tunges in the diſpite.
    • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
      Thou waſt euer an obſtinate heretique in the deſpight of Beautie.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 25:6:
      all thy despite against the land of Israel
  2. (archaic) Action or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “iiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book II:
      he aſked kynge Arthur yf he wold gyue hym leue to ryde after Balen and to reuenge the deſpyte that he had done
      Doo your beſt ſaid Arthur I am right wroth ſaid Balen I wold he were quyte of the deſpyte that he hath done to me and to my Courte
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC:
      a deſpite done againſt the Moſt High
  3. Evil feeling; malice, spite, annoyance.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 3:
      How often am I obliged to speak mal à propos, because my features are not sufficiently charming in a state of repose!—how often is my ingenuity racked to find a word, when a look would have been far better! I am compelled to be amusing, in my own despite.
    • 1874, Thucydides, translated by Richard Crawley, The Peloponnesian War:
      And for these Corcyraeans—neither receive them into alliance in our despite, nor be their abettors in crime.
Derived terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

From Middle English despite, dispite, dyspite, dyspyte, from Old French despitier.[3][4]

Verb edit

despite (third-person singular simple present despites, present participle despiting, simple past and past participle despited)

  1. (obsolete) To vex; to annoy; to offend contemptuously.

References edit

  1. ^ “dē̆spīt, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “despite, prep.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  3. ^ “dē̆spīten, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “despite, v.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams edit

Spanish edit

Verb edit

despite

  1. inflection of despitar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative
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