despite

Etymology

From Old French despit, from Latin dēspectum (“looking down on”), from dēspiciō (“to look down, despise”).

prep

1. In spite of, notwithstanding.
   The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess
   Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage. 1995, Billy Corgan (lyrics and music), “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”, in Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, performed by Smashing Pumpkins
   Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief in Snape as a character who extends beyond book and film. 3 March 2014, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, pages 219–257

noun

1. (obsolete) Disdain, contemptuous feelings, hatred.
   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, c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
2. (archaic) Action or behaviour displaying such feelings; an outrage, insult.
3. Evil feeling; malice, spite, annoyance.
   And for these Corcyraeans—neither receive them into alliance in our despite, nor be their abettors in crime. 1874, Thucydides, translated by Richard Crawley, The Peloponnesian War

verb

1. (obsolete) To vex; to annoy; to offend contemptuously.