despite

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

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 Paid subscription required⁠, 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 Paid subscription required⁠, 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
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=despite&oldid=79319536"