Link Centre Dictionary

despite

des·pite

UK/dɪˈspaɪt/ US/dɪˈspaɪt/ common

noun

1.

lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

  • “he was held in contempt”
  • “the despite in which outsiders were held is legendary”
Synonyms
2.

contemptuous disregard

  • “she wanted neither favor nor despite”

Origin

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).

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.