dispiteous, a.
(dɪˈspɪtiːəs)
[A revival or continuation of the 16th c. dispiteous, variant of despiteous (q.v. for earlier instances), related to despite; but in later use analysed as f. dis- 10 + piteous.]
Pitiless, merciless.
| 1803 W. S. Rose Amadis 82 The felon wreck'd dispiteous wrong and shame. 1818 Todd, Dispiteous, malicious, furious. 1845 Blackw. Mag. LVII. 638 This dispiteous and abominable tyrant. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xiv. 357 The wages he receives are as dispiteous, for he is devoured by a beast. 1865 Swinburne Poems & Ball., Phædra 81 The most dispiteous out of all the gods. |
Hence diˈspiteously adv.; diˈspiteousness.
| 1818 Todd, Dispiteously, maliciously, without pity. 1861 Rossetti Ital. Poets, Mazzeo di Ricco 57 Certes, it was of Love's dispiteousness That I must set my life On thee. |