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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The documentary explores the dark web of fraud, deception and malice that led Parker to feign a pregnancy to try to bolster her relationship with boyfriend Wade Griffin — and when her fake due date passed, kill Hancock for her baby, Braxlynn Sage.—
KC Baker,
PEOPLE,
13 June 2026 -
Baldoni and his attorneys failed to prove Lively had acted with malice.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
12 June 2026
Noun
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With venom and shrewd determination, Nicholson paints his character as a swaggering monster who milks every syllable of his dialogue with vitriolic relish.—
Eric Farwell,
Entertainment Weekly,
12 June 2026
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Perhaps the most fascinating question is why natural selection favored venom of such extraordinary potency in the first place.—
Scott Travers,
Forbes.com,
12 June 2026
Noun
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His sophisticated taste and hatred for carbs always brought a little humor to the job.—
Kevin Jacobsen,
Entertainment Weekly,
16 June 2026
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The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, has called for calm, but several far-right personalities in Great Britain and the United States—including Elon Musk—have used the attack to foment hatred against immigrants.—
Isaac Chotiner,
New Yorker,
12 June 2026
Noun
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Most importantly, Kaiser went on national radio and warned that democracy itself could not survive if America returned to the greed, monopoly and economic cruelty that had scarred the industrial age.—
Tom Debley,
Mercury News,
16 June 2026
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O'Neill was charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, two dog housing violations and one misdemeanor for violating bail conditions from his previous charges, according to DPH.—
Marcella Baietto,
CBS News,
15 June 2026
Noun
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The visitors got out to a huge lead in the first inning and rode it all the way to the end, in spite of the Royals’ best efforts to rally.—
Emily Curiel,
Kansas City Star,
13 June 2026
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The best of them is saved for last, and works in spite of the film’s struggle to make its sociopathic main villain (Joey Iwanaga) as interesting as its colorful array of goons.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
12 June 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Spitefulness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spitefulness. Accessed 19 Jun. 2026.
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