I. spite 1 W3 /spaɪt/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Origin: despite (noun) (13-20 centuries) ; ⇨ ↑ despite ]
1 . in spite of something without being affected or prevented by something SYN despite :
We went out in spite of the rain.
Kelly loved her husband in spite of the fact that he drank too much.
2 . a feeling of wanting to hurt or upset people, for example because you are ↑ jealous or think you have been unfairly treated
out of spite (=because of spite)
She broke it just out of spite.
pure/sheer spite (=spite and nothing else)
3 . in spite of yourself if you do something in spite of yourself, you do it although you did not expect or intend to do it:
The picture made her laugh in spite of herself.
II. spite 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive only in infinitive]
to deliberately annoy or upset someone:
The neighbours throw things over the garden wall just to spite us.
⇨ cut off your nose to spite your face at CUT OFF (10)