English

Alternative forms

• despight (obsolete)

Noun

despite ‎(countable and uncountable, plural despites)

1. (obsolete) Disdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.
   • Bible, Ezekiel xxv. 6

     all thy despite against the land of Israel

   • 1599, Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 1

     DON PEDRO. Thou wast ever an obstinate heretic in the despite of beauty.

2. (archaic) Action or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter 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

   • Milton

     a despite done against the Most High

3. Evil feeling; malice, spite.

Preposition

despite

1. In spite of, notwithstanding, regardless of.
   • 1592–1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet III:

     So thou through windows of thine age shall see

     Despite 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, chapter 7, in The China Governess:

     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.

Derived terms

• despiteful

Translations

Verb

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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Raleigh to this entry?)

Anagrams

• seed pit