as in malicious
having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it
the gossip would utter the most vicious things with a spiteful smile
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Recent Examples of spiteful
In the book, Benedict falls for Sophie Beckett, the daughter of an earl who’s been hidden away from the Ton and forced to work as a housemaid by her spiteful stepmother.
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Radhika Seth, Vogue, 16 Sep. 2024
The first season of the Netflix show was released in August 2024 and features Jeff Goldblum as a paranoid and spiteful Zeus who is fearful that a prophecy about his downfall is coming to fruition.
—Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 5 Sep. 2024
The lines for this spiteful battle were drawn shortly after Rouhani ascended to the presidency in 2013 and urged the IRGC generals to stay out of politics and economics.
—Alex Vatanka, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2016
So this gave me a chance to address some of those things, just not in a spiteful or vengeful way.
—Laia Garcia-Furtado, Vogue, 19 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for spiteful 
Radhika Seth, Vogue, 16 Sep. 2024
The first season of the Netflix show was released in August 2024 and features Jeff Goldblum as a paranoid and spiteful Zeus who is fearful that a prophecy about his downfall is coming to fruition.
—Rebecca Aizin, Peoplemag, 5 Sep. 2024
The lines for this spiteful battle were drawn shortly after Rouhani ascended to the presidency in 2013 and urged the IRGC generals to stay out of politics and economics.
—Alex Vatanka, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2016
So this gave me a chance to address some of those things, just not in a spiteful or vengeful way.
—Laia Garcia-Furtado, Vogue, 19 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for spiteful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spiteful
Adjective
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Four vulnerabilities in WebKit were fixed in iOS 18.2, allowing memory corruption if you were persuaded to interact with malicious web content.Kate O'Flaherty, Forbes, 12 Dec. 2024
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The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices.Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report, Fox News, 11 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Some Rochester residents disagree and find their city’s methods excessively cruel to the birds.Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Dec. 2024
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The gods prove cruel but not omnipotent, and the modern settings exert their own redemptive pull; the final effect is that of a magic trick, in which the characters manage, in each film’s miraculous closing moments, to slip the bonds of tragedy.Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 18 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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That was confirmed by his patron in Moscow, which supported the regime in crushing what started as a peaceful protest movement during the Arab Spring and became a vicious civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and sparked a refugee crisis.Elizabeth Both, NBC News, 9 Dec. 2024
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Its main proxy, Hezbollah, was crippled by a pager attack on its hierarchy, and then by weeks of vicious airstrikes.Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, 7 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The Center for Countering Digital Hate recently said that X failed to remove nearly 86% of 300 hateful posts a week after the organization reported them.Thomas Brewster, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
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Finally, there’s the late-to-the-party Johnny (Christopher Sears), a free-spirited recovering heroin addict who brings along his fellow 12-stepper Loren (Barbie Ferreira), the outsider and truth-teller whose appalled at the hateful religious vitriol spewed by Diana.Greg Evans, Deadline, 12 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Wireless Humidifier Another Healthy Home Awards winner, this portable humidifier can sit on top of their desk or nightstand to hydrate dry skin (or help a cold feel a little less nasty).Jessica Kasparian, SELF, 10 Dec. 2024
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Treinen rewarded his manager’s faith in him by retiring the dangerous Giancarlo Stanton on a first-pitch fly out to right field and striking out Anthony Rizzo with a nasty 86-mph sweeper to end the inning.Mike DiGiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 9 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near spiteful
Cite this Entry
“Spiteful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spiteful. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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