Despite
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /dɪˈspaɪt/
- Rhymes: -aɪt
Alternative forms
- despight obsolete
Origin
From Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum ("looking down on"), from dēspicere ("to look down, despise").
Full definition of despite
Noun
despite
(uncountable)- (obsolete) Disdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.
- Bible, Ezekiel xxv. 6all thy despite against the land of Israel
- 1599, Much Ado About Nothing, by ,DON PEDRO. Thou wast ever an obstinate heretic in the despite of beauty.
- (archaic) Action or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book II:I am right wroth with Balen, I wold he were quyte of the despyte that he hath done to me and to my Courte.
- Miltona despite done against the Most High
- Evil feeling; malice, spite.
Preposition
- In spite of, notwithstanding.
- 1592–1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet III:So thou through windows of thine age shall seeDespite of wrinkles this thy golden time.
- 1592–1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet XIX:Yet, do thy worst, old Time: despite thy wrong,My love shall in my verse ever live young.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 7, The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.