spitefulness

noun

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
  1. malice
  2. venom
  3. hatred
  4. cruelty
  5. spite
Noun
  • The Court finds Defendant could not have responded to these instances of 'actual malice' in the First Amended Complaint, as they were not framed as such.
    — Tracy Wright, FOXNews.com, 21 Oct. 2026
  • In October, a Newton County grand jury indicted 43-year-old Taiesha Wilson on charges of malice murder, murder, concealing the death of another, identity theft, and more.
    — Dan Raby, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of malice
Noun
  • There’s a real opportunity in the fourth episode to do something fun, or at least interesting, when Tyson convinces Russ to join him in smoking hallucinatory toad venom, but no flair or flourishes emerge.
    — Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Spiders, for instance, have muscles surrounding their venom glands, which contract and eject venom through hollow fangs.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of venom
Noun
  • The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country.
    — Leonie Kidd, CNBC, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Underneath that façade was a sociopathic white supremacist neo-Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day.
    — Asal Rezaei, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of hatred
Noun
  • Christopher Stefanou of Long Island is charged with animal cruelty and breaking rules about shark fishing, Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said Wednesday.
    — Neal Riley, CBS News, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Florida House Bill 559 recently created new guidelines to address animal cruelty across the state, including by allowing municipalities to increase fines and penalties.
    — Joshua Ceballos, Miami Herald, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of cruelty
Noun
  • In spite—or because—of that emphasis on the purely physical, Capra thrived.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
  • How much of your inspiration and motivation actually comes from spite?
    — Sam Macdonald, Scientific American, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of spite
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

spitefully
spitefulness
spites
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Cite this Entry

“Spitefulness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spitefulness. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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