as in malice
the desire to cause pain for the satisfaction of doing harm
cut down their neighbors' tree out of sheer spitefulness
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spitefulness
Noun
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Potential adversaries interpret political action in zero-sum terms; see malice and evil design in mere blunders and coincidence; trumpet necessity rather than navigate choice; and, in extreme cases, invent pretext or promise profit to make more palatable a dubious cause.—
Elizabeth D. Samet,
Foreign Affairs,
29 Oct. 2025 -
This was all in jest though and while many would object to making homophobia a joke, there didn’t appear to be actual malice behind it, at least from a superficial look.—
Rafael Perez,
Oc Register,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Their venom is typically used to paralyze their prey, but is not thought to have an effect on the human nervous system.—
Jasmine Laws,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
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What’s more, elapids are capable of producing particularly large quantities of venom and are often very large.—
Andrew Paul,
Popular Science,
29 Oct. 2025
Noun
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My darling, hatred takes the beauty away.—
Tracee Ellis Ross,
Glamour,
27 Oct. 2025
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Muschietti touched on this in his movies — the bullying of Mike Hanlon and the hate-crime murder of Adrian Mellon — including the way Pennywise fosters and foments the hatred already lurking in the hearts of Derry’s citizens.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Being tied to the mast of a regime defined by cruelty and graft is a problem of another magnitude entirely.—
Dónal Gill,
The Dial,
28 Oct. 2025
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After shifting power to the people—like a year-plus bus boycott can do, for example—and getting the government to lessen its corruption, cruelty, injustice or violence, defending those gains is a must.—
Michael Shank,
MSNBC Newsweek,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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But in spite of Barkley's monster performance and the Eagles avenging their previous Week 6 loss to the Giants, Barkley offered up a rather intriguing quote while being interviewed by Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews after the game.—
Matthew Schmidt,
MSNBC Newsweek,
26 Oct. 2025
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The information was given to sports bettors, one of whom placed a $100,000 bet against the Lakers, who ended up winning the game in spite of Davis' injuries.—
Madison E. Goldberg,
PEOPLE,
24 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Spitefulness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spitefulness. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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