English Explanatory Dictionary

despite

English dictionary entry

Meanings

prep
  1. In spite of, not with standing.
noun
  1. Disdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.
  2. Action or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.
  3. Evil feeling; malice, spite, annoyance.
verb
  1. To vex; to annoy; to offend contemptuously.

Pronunciation

/dɪˈspaɪt/ en-us-despite.ogg

Word forms

despite despight despites despiting despited

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English despit, dispit, from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). The preposition is derived from Middle English dispit, itself derived from the phrase in dispit of (in despite of). Compare typologically Russian несмотря́ на (nesmotrjá na) (< смотре́ть (smotrétʹ)); невзира́я на (nevzirája na) (< взира́ть (vzirátʹ)), презре́в (prezrév) (< презре́ть (prezrétʹ) <~ зреть (zretʹ)) (compare despite—despise relation).

Synonyms

in spite of maugre despite for all irrespective of notwithstanding regardless of without considering without regard for

Antonyms

because of

Related words

despise even though nevertheless

Derived words

despite oneself despiteful
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on D Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary