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
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spitefulness
Noun
-
More than avoiding malice, we are called to take responsibility for the impact of our words.—
Andrew Weinstein,
Time,
12 Sep. 2025 -
Understand that controlling behaviors may stem from fear and insecurity rather than malice.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Victims of a snake bite are advised not to try to remove the venom themselves or to tie off the bite area.—
Latoya Gayle,
PEOPLE,
8 Sep. 2025
-
Wolf spider bites are not poisonous and won't cause sores or body-wide symptoms from its venom.—
Carrie Madormo,
Health,
6 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Foreign perpetrators have been linked to previous acts intended to incite hatred.—
Saskya Vandoorne,
CNN Money,
12 Sep. 2025
-
The left is always, at all times and places, a violent phenomenon full of hatred.—
Ross O'Keefe,
The Washington Examiner,
11 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
But her private letters to her sister Cassandra show a sharper and more astringent person, someone whose cruelty and bitterness were redeemed only by her jokes.—
Lucy Worsley
September 16,
Literary Hub,
16 Sep. 2025
-
Justice came for Petal when her previous owner was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals on September 12, a press release from CGHS stated.—
Liz O'Connell,
MSNBC Newsweek,
16 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Even in spite of the ugly headlines early in the second quarter, many retirement savers didn't give in to panic and hit the brakes.—
Susan Tompor,
USA Today,
10 Sep. 2025
-
Housing is one of the reasons anyone in tech will tell you that the industry is thriving in California largely in spite of regulations, not because of them.—
Reed Albergotti,
semafor.com,
10 Sep. 2025
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.
Cite this Entry
“Spitefulness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spitefulness. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share