n. 1
Ill will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the desire to unjustifiably irritate, annoy, or thwart; a want to disturb or put out another; mild malice.
They did it just for spite.
v. 1
To treat maliciously; to try to hurt or thwart.
She soon married again, to spite her ex-husband.
v. 2
To be angry at; to hate.

Related words

Forms

Plural: spites → despites, malevolences, rancors, grudges…
Past participle: spited
e.g. spited → wounded, offended, insulted, affronted…

or Spite?

Malice has more reference to the disposition, and spite to the manifestation of it in words and actions.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

3 letters: vex¹
4 letters: hate¹, hurt¹
5 letters: wound¹, venom², pique¹, abhor²
6 letters: hatred², insult², offend², grudge¹, injure², malice², bruise¹, avenge², spleen¹, loathe¹, enmity³, detest², malign², rancor²
7 letters: despite², affront², rancour
8 letters: acrimony⁴
9 letters: nastiness³, malignity, cattiness
10 letters: resentment³, bitterness³, bitchiness³
11 letters: malevolence
12 letters: spitefulness
13 letters: maliciousness
14 letters: vindictiveness⁴

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (venom² = 2 syllables).