Library / English Dictionary

SMITE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: smit    , smitten    , smote   

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause physical pain or suffering in

Example:

afflict with the plague

Synonyms:

afflict; smite

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "smite" is one way to...):

damage (inflict damage upon)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "smite"):

visit (assail)

blight; plague (cause to suffer a blight)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Inflict a heavy blow on, with the hand, a tool, or a weapon

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "smite" is one way to...):

hit (deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The fighter managed to smite his opponent

Sense 3

Meaning:

Affect suddenly with deep feeling

Example:

He was smitten with love for this young girl

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "smite" is one way to...):

affect; impress; move; strike (have an emotional or cognitive impact upon)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

“Well, well!” she said, smiting her small knees, and rising, “this is not business. Come, Steerforth, let's explore the polar regions, and have it over.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I smote the table hard and rose up as I said to him:—"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?"

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The old gentleman liked the fun, and amused himself by sending odd bundles, mysterious messages, and funny telegrams, and his gardener, who was smitten with Hannah's charms, actually sent a love letter to Jo's care.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I am not in the least provoked at the sight of a lawyer, a pickpocket, a colonel, a fool, a lord, a gamester, a politician, a whoremonger, a physician, an evidence, a suborner, an attorney, a traitor, or the like; this is all according to the due course of things: but when I behold a lump of deformity and diseases, both in body and mind, smitten with pride, it immediately breaks all the measures of my patience; neither shall I be ever able to comprehend how such an animal, and such a vice, could tally together.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“Did not your heart sink within you? Were you not smitten with fears? Have you not felt a curse hang over you?”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In his battle with the sonnet he had forgotten her existence, and at the sound of her voice his love for her smote him like a sudden blow.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But my heart smote me when we climbed aboard and looked at the havoc he had done.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The feeling, the announcement sent through me, was something stronger than was consistent with joy—something that smote and stunned.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Right for all that,” said Mr. Peggotty, stopping in his roar, and smiting his hands together; “fur here she is!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I had now plenty of water and good things to eat, and my conscience, which had smitten me hard for my desertion, was quieted by the great conquest I had made.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)