PrepositionMany children are shy around strangers, of course, but Jacob's reticence is different. He suffers from a rare childhood disorder … that renders him so anxious in the company of others that he cannot, despite all his efforts, utter a single word.—Kathy Ehrich Dowd et al., People, 18 Feb. 2008That's exactly what researchers at Texas A & M University have done with Smart Little Lena, a stallion (despite the name) famed for its cow herding skills.—Henry Nicholls, New Scientist, 1-7 Apr. 2006Despite the thriving trade in manuscripts that occurred throughout the Greek and Roman empires, many plays, poems, and philosophical musings by writers such as Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Sophocles have been lost.—Physics Today, June 2005
we went to the party despite the bad weather outside Noun
pointedly ignored his false friend out of despite
sheer despite was the sole reason for her hurtful comments
Recent Examples on the Web
Preposition
And despite her plans being waylayed, time is on her side.—Anchorage Daily News, 7 May 2020 And despite the gameplay and unpredictability down the stretch, that is kind of what happened.—Dalton Ross, EW.com, 7 May 2020
Noun
Despite the fact that the age of female winners has been steadily increasing in the last despite, the average female Oscar winner is 39 years old, according to a Sky News 2023 report—almost a decade younger than the average male winner at 47.—Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 13 Mar. 2023 Westbrook recently scored a triple-double despite shooting 7-for-27 from the floor.—Bruce Jenkins, SFChronicle.com, 7 Dec. 2019
Verb
Bucks 127, Kings 106: Khris Middleton had 27 points and 11 rebounds, Eric Bledsoe scored 24 and Milwaukee beat host Sacramento despite an off night for Giannis Antetokounmpo.—SFChronicle.com, 10 Jan. 2020 Indeed, very few countries do: despite ramping up testing in recent days, the UK remains short of its 10,000 tests per day target.—Yomi Kazeem, Quartz Africa, 24 Mar. 2020 See all Example Sentences for despite
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'despite.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun, Preposition, and Verb
Middle English, from Anglo-French despit, from Latin despectus, from despicere — see despise
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