spite·ful

(spīt′fəl)

adj.

Filled with, prompted by, or showing spite; malicious.

spite′ful·ly adv.

spite′ful·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spiteful

(ˈspaɪtfʊl)

adj

full of or motivated by spite; vindictive

ˈspitefully adv

ˈspitefulness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

spite•ful

(ˈspaɪt fəl)

adj.

full of spite or malice; malicious.

[1400–50]

spite′ful•ly, adv.

spite′ful•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.

spiteful - showing malicious ill will and a desire to hurt; motivated by spite; "a despiteful fiend"; "a truly spiteful child"; "a vindictive man will look for occasions for resentment"

despiteful, vindictive

malicious - having the nature of or resulting from malice; "malicious gossip"; "took malicious pleasure in...watching me wince"- Rudyard Kipling

spiteful

adjective malicious, nasty, vindictive, cruel, malignant, barbed, malevolent, venomous, bitchy (informal), snide, rancorous, catty (informal), splenetic, shrewish, ill-disposed, ill-natured He could be spiteful.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

spiteful

adjective

1. Characterized by intense ill will or spite:

black, despiteful, evil, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, poisonous, venomous, vicious, wicked.

Slang: bitchy.

2. Disposed to seek revenge:

revengeful, vengeful, vindictive.

Translations

حَقُودضاغِن، حَقود

zlomyslný

ondskabsfuld

ilkeä

pakostan

illgjarn

malevolo maligno

意地の悪い

악의적인

retsam

ซึ่งมีเจตนาร้าย

kincinisbetçi

hằn học

怀恨的恶意的

spiteful

[ˈspaɪtfʊl] ADJ [person] (= resentful) → rencoroso; (= malicious) → malicioso; [action] → malintencionado
to be spiteful to sb → tratar a algn con rencor, ser rencoroso con algn

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

spiteful

[ˈspaɪtfʊl] adj [person] → malveillant(e); [gossip, remark] → méchant(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

spiteful

adj → boshaft, gemein; (= gloating also) → schadenfroh, gehässig

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

spiteful

[ˈspaɪtfʊl] adj (person, behaviour) → dispettoso/a; (tongue, remark) → maligno/a, velenoso/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

spite

(spait) noun

ill-will or desire to hurt or offend. She neglected to give him the message out of spite.

verb

to annoy, offend or frustrate, because of spite. He only did that to spite me!

ˈspiteful adjective

a spiteful remark/person; You're being very spiteful.

ˈspitefully adverb

ˈspitefulness noun

in spite of

1. taking no notice of. He went in spite of his father's orders.

2. although something has or had happened, is or was a fact etc. In spite of all the rain that had fallen, the ground was still pretty dry.

spiteful

→ حَقُود zlomyslný ondskabsfuld boshaft κακεντρεχής rencoroso ilkeä rancunier pakostan maligno 意地の悪い 악의적인 hatelijk ondskapsfull złośliwy maldoso злобный retsam ซึ่งมีเจตนาร้าย kinci hằn học 怀恨的

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I was lying when I said just now that I was a spiteful official.

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"Do tell me something amusing but not spiteful," said the ambassador's wife, a great proficient in the art of that elegant conversation called by the English, small talk.

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He had a vague notion that the deformity of Wakem's son had some relation to the lawyer's rascality, of which he had so often heard his father talk with hot emphasis; and he felt, too, a half-admitted fear of him as probably a spiteful fellow, who, not being able to fight you, had cunning ways of doing you a mischief by the sly.

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She was also so spiteful that she gladly devoted all her time to carrying out all the mean or ill-natured tricks of the whole body of fairies.

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"Spiteful old cats!" was Gilbert's elegant comment.

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The idea of striking down this spiteful bully passed like lightning through the brain of the tulip-fancier.

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He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights.

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I like to look at you," she said, speaking with a spiteful relish of her own cruel words.

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But very soon I saw the reason of it and joined them heartily, for the monkeys, annoyed and wishing to pay us back in our own coin, began to tear the nuts from the trees and cast them at us with angry and spiteful gestures, so that after very little labour our sacks were filled with the fruit which we could not otherwise have obtained.

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Some cling to you in woebegone misery; others come back fiercely and weirdly, like ghouls bent upon sucking your strength away; others, again, have a catastrophic splendour; some are unvenerated recollections, as of spiteful wild-cats clawing at your agonized vitals; others are severe, like a visitation; and one or two rise up draped and mysterious, with an aspect of ominous menace.

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The selfishness of a mean and crafty man--the selfishness of an ambitious and silly woman the selfishness of a spiteful and loveless child all tend one way, from bad to worse!

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When he opened the ballroom door Pierre saw Natasha sitting at the window, with a thin, pale, and spiteful face.

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