Definitions

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

  • preposition In spite of; notwithstanding.
  • noun Contemptuous defiance or disregard.
  • noun Spite; malice.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In despite of; notwithstanding.
  • Synonyms Notwithstanding, In spite of, Despite. See notwithstanding.
  • To treat with contempt; set at naught; despise.
  • To vex; offend; spite.
  • noun Scorn; contempt; extreme malice; malignity; contemptuous aversion; spite.
  • noun Defiance with contempt of opposition; contemptuous challenge.
  • noun An act of malice or injury.

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

  • preposition In spite of; against, or in defiance of; notwithstanding.
  • transitive verb obsolete To vex; to annoy; to offend contemptuously.
  • noun Malice; malignity; spite; malicious anger; contemptuous hate.
  • noun An act of malice, hatred, or defiance; contemptuous defiance; a deed of contempt.
  • noun in defiance of another's power or inclination.
  • noun in defiance of; in spite of. See under Spite.
  • noun [Obs.] in defiance or contempt of you; in spite of you.

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

  • noun obsolete Disdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.
  • noun archaic Action or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.
  • noun Evil feeling; malice, spite.
  • preposition in spite of

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

  • noun contemptuous disregard
  • noun lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Short for in despite of, from Middle English despit, spite, from Old French, from Latin dēspectus, from past participle of dēspicere, to despise; see despise.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum ("looking down on"), from dēspicere ("to look down, despise").

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