What is the difference between despite and despite of

A picture is worth a thousand words:. Now, before you forget where I started, I will add that the Corpus also has a whopping cites for just "despite", and cites for "in spite of". So a more accurate picture would be this:. Back to the UK, the British National Corpus has cites for "in spite of", cites for "despite", but only 3 cites for " in despite of". So the bottom line is this: by all means do use despite or in spite of.

However, if you accidentally use despite of or even in despite of and someone corrects you, you can now at least pretend that you were emulating Shakespeare. Edit: Interestingly enough, Merriam-Webster simply says that in despite of is a synonym for in spite of and leaves it at that.

I also totally forgot to look it up in the most obvious place: Etymonline. Here's what it has to say :. Yes, you should use despite. The word despite is a preposition which takes a noun as its object, and doesn't require of. Despite of is incorrect, and sounds distinctly non-native. You're probably getting confused by the similar phrase in spite of. In spite of means basically the same thing as despite. When you say "despite of", it sounds like you are conflating "despite" and "in spite of".

Their meanings are basically the same. In Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary , the entry for despite as a preposition is quite brief:. AF despit , fr. L despectus , fr. The quotation from Churchill in the Eleventh Collegiate's entry for despite as a noun appears in the context of a comment by Churchill about the Soviet Union, seemingly delivered soon after the famous Yalta conference involving Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt:.

The impression I brought back from the Crimea, and from all my other contacts, is that Marshal Stalin and the Soviet Leaders wish to live in honorable friendship and equality with the Western democracies. I feel also that their word is their bond.

I know of no government which stands to its obligations even to its own despite, more solidly than the Russian Soviet Government. Anyway, the striking thing about the Eleventh Collegiate 's coverage of despite as a noun is that it doesn't include any labels indicating that despite is little used as a noun in modern English.

Contrast that with the way the same dictionary handles the entry for despite as a verb:. From this difference in treatment between the verb despite and the noun despite , it seems clear that Merriam-Webster considers despite as a noun to be neither archaic nor obsolete, as of Merriam-Webster had some grounds for reaching this conclusion. Less than a century before, The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia had taken the position that despite as a preposition was merely a short form of the phrase "in despite of," meaning "notwithstanding.

In despite of, in defiance or contempt of: in defiant opposition to: notwithstanding: later abbreviated to in spite of , or simply despite as a preposition. Notably, the Century Dictionary doesn't say that "in despite of" can correctly be shortened to "despite of. A search for the phrases "despite of" blue line , "in despite of" red line and "in his despite" green line across the period — shows the extent to which matches for "despite of" are also matches for "in despite of":.

As the chart indicates, until about , the match between the two forms is such that vast majority of instances of "despite of" are also matches for "in despite of"; instances of "despite of" without in immediately preceding it are sufficiently rare that the blue line emerges as a kind of blue snow cap on some of the summits of a red mountain range. If we move the start of the chart to , to avoid the spike from that dwarfs the rest of the chart, we get this view of the Google Books results for — The snowcapping phenomenon is evident until about , when searches find enough matches for "despite of" that aren't also matches for "in despite of" to establish significant separation between the two terms' line graphs.

The individual Google Books search results for "despite of" for the years — continue to show most matches as involving instances of "in despite of"—but they also show some that don't—including this example from Letter XIII of Walter Scott, Paul's Letters to His Kinfolk , reproduced in The Miscellaneous Prose Works of Sir Walter Scott , , , :. But Napoleon knew well the people over whom he was called to rule, and was aware that his power was secure, despite of annihilated commerce and exhausted finances, despite of his waste of the lives of Frenchmen and treasure of France, despite of the general execration of the human race, echoed from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, providing he could prove to the Parisians that he was still the Emperor of the World, and Paris its capital.

The shower head. It worked fine despite how it looks. But at least it works grammatically and water-wise. In spite of what happened to it, the pounding rain and hurricane-force winds, the barn still stands intact. Hare and Edward H. Real-time suggestions, wherever you write. Despite vs. In Spite Of Alice E. Grammar What Are Modal Verbs? Comparison: adjectives bigger , biggest , more interesting Comparison: clauses bigger than we had imagined Comparison: comparisons of equality as tall as his father As … as.

Adverbs Adverb phrases Adverbs and adverb phrases: position Adverbs and adverb phrases: typical errors Adverbs: forms Adverbs: functions Adverbs: types Comparison: adverbs worse, more easily Fairly Intensifiers very, at all Largely Much , a lot , lots , a good deal : adverbs Pretty Quite Rather Really Scarcely Very.

Above or over? Across , over or through? Advice or advise? Affect or effect? All or every? All or whole? Allow , permit or let? Almost or nearly? Alone , lonely , or lonesome? Along or alongside? Already , still or yet?

Also , as well or too? Alternate ly , alternative ly Although or though? Altogether or all together? Amount of , number of or quantity of? Any more or anymore? Anyone , anybody or anything? Apart from or except for? Arise or rise? Around or round? Arouse or rouse? As or like? As , because or since? As , when or while? Been or gone? Begin or start? Beside or besides? Between or among? Born or borne? Bring , take and fetch Can , could or may? Classic or classical?

Come or go? Consider or regard? Consist , comprise or compose? Content or contents? Different from , different to or different than? Do or make? Down , downwards or downward?

During or for? Each or every? East or eastern ; north or northern? Economic or economical? Efficient or effective? Elder , eldest or older , oldest? End or finish? Especially or specially?

Except or except for? Expect , hope or wait? Experience or experiment? Fall or fall down? Far or a long way? Farther , farthest or further , furthest? Fast , quick or quickly? Fell or felt? Female or feminine ; male or masculine? Finally , at last , lastly or in the end? First , firstly or at first? Fit or suit? Following or the following? For or since? Forget or leave? Full or filled? Fun or funny? Get or go? Grateful or thankful?