despite

CEFRB1

/dɪˈspaɪt/

preposition · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    preposition

    Without being affected by something; even though.

  2. 02

    preposition

    Extra detail

    Action or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.

Examples

  • Despite the importance of sleep, its purpose is a mystery.

  • He was still mad about the accident despite his wife's conciliatory words.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

preposition

Extra meanings
  1. Disdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.

  2. In spite of, not with standing.

noun

Extra meaning
  1. Evil feeling; malice, spite, annoyance.

More examples

In context
  • Her voice was shaking despite all her efforts to control it.

  • Despite being a near-mirror image my of right, my left hand is terrible at these stuff.

  • A fals double tunge is more fiers and fell Then Cerberus the cur couching in the kenel of hel; Wherof hereafter, I thinke for to write,

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

blank the heavy rain, the outdoor concert continued as planned.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

preposition

The noun is derived from Middle English despit, dispit, from Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”). The preposition is derived from Middle English dispit, itself derived from the phrase in dispit of (in despite of). Compare typologically Russian несмотря́ на (nesmotrjá na) (< смотре́ть (smotrétʹ)); невзира́я на (nevzirája na) (< взира́ть (vzirátʹ)), презре́в (prezrév) (< презре́ть (prezrétʹ) <~ зреть (zretʹ)) (compare despite—despise relation).