despite

UK/dɪˈspaɪt/

despite preposition: in spite of, notwithstanding.

Preposition

despite

In spite of, notwithstanding.
- Despite being a near-mirror image my of right, my left hand is terrible at these stuff.
- So thou through windowes of thine age ſhalt ſee,
  Diſpight of wrinkles this thy goulden time.1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 3”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
Synonyms:

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

Noun

despite (countable and uncountable, plural despites)

(obsolete) Disdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.
- 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,c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
- Thou waſt euer an obſtinate heretique in the deſpight of Beautie.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]...
(archaic) Action or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.
- 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 Courte1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “iiij”, in Le Morte Darthur, book II
- Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye, shall hee be thought worthy, who hath troden vnder foote þe Sonne of God, and hath counted the blood of the couenant wherwith he was sanctified, an vnholy thing, and hath done despite vnto the spirit of grace?1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 10:29
Evil feeling; malice, spite, annoyance.
- 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.1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter I, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 3
- And for these Corcyraeans—neither receive them into alliance in our despite, nor be their abettors in crime.1874, Thucydides, translated by Richard Crawley, The Peloponnesian War

Verb

despite (third-person singular simple present despites, present participle despiting, simple past and past participle despited)

(obsolete) To vex; to annoy; to offend contemptuously.
- to despite his opposites1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=1 to 5)

despite meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic and Malay

despite in Urdu

in spite of: باوُجُود bāvujūd, کے باوُجُود ke bāvujūd

despite in Arabic

in spite of: رَغْمَ raḡma, بِالرَّغْمِ مِن bi-r-raḡmi min, مَعَ maʕa

despite in Malay

in spite of: walaupun

More languagesFewer languages

despite in Persian: علیرغم 'alâraġm-e, بهرغم be-raġm-e, باوجود bâvojud-e
despite in Vietnamese: mặc dù, không kể, bất chấp

Examples of despite in a sentence

Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.1995, Billy Corgan, “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”, in Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, performed by Smashing Pumpkins:
Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives.2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5...
all thy despite against the land of Israel1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 25:6:

All 40 example sentences with despite

Synonyms of despite

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

Antonyms

because of

All synonyms and antonyms of despite

Forms of despite

Preposition
alternative form (obsolete)	despight
Noun
plural	despites
Verb
third-person singular present	despites
present participle	despiting
past participle	despited
past	despited

Origin of despite

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).

From Middle English despite, dispite, dyspite, dyspyte, from Old French despitier.

Words formed from despite

Phrases with despite

Words that rhyme with despite

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about despite

What does despite mean?: Despite means in spite of, notwithstanding.
What is despite in Hindi?: Despite in Hindi is के बावजूद (ke bāvjūd). See Despite meaning in Hindi.
How do you use despite in a sentence?: Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.
What part of speech is despite?: Despite can be a preposition, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce despite?: Despite is pronounced /dɪˈspaɪt/ (UK).

Words near despite in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: despite (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-despite.ogg.

Cite this entry: “despite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/despite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.