smite
smite Lexical Profile
smite Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To captivate, infatuate, or fascinate powerfully (usually used in the passive voice as 'smitten').
"The young architect was completely smitten by the classical proportions of the historic library."
To strike with a firm or heavy blow (now chiefly literary or archaic).
"In the ancient epic, the hero raised his staff to smite the rock and release a spring of water."
To afflict, chastise, or affect severely with misfortune, illness, or remorse.
"His conscience began to smite him the moment he realized his careless remark had hurt his friend."
• noun
A heavy blow or stroke.
"With one mighty smite of the blacksmith's hammer, the glowing iron took its final shape."
Word Nuance & Usage
While the active senses meaning 'to strike' or 'to afflict' are largely literary or archaic, the past participle 'smitten' remains common in everyday modern English to mean deeply infatuated or strongly affected by something.
• Rhymes for smite
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'smitan', meaning to smear, blemish, or pollute, which evolved in Middle English into the sense of delivering a heavy blow, from a Proto-Germanic root shared with German 'schmeißen' (to fling or hurl).