What does inspitation mean?

Answer 1

It's actually two words, the proposition "in" and the word "spite". Spite is a motivation for doing mean or cruel or hurtful things, and often boils down to a kind of mean-spirited revenge. "To cut off your nose to spite your face" is an expression meaning that sometimes doing harm to another does greater harm to yourself. The "spite your face" part, means that you think you are doing something mean to your face by cutting off your nose.

Spite is often the feeling we have when we say, "I'll show him!". It sometimes takes the form of wilful and peevish disobedience as a kind of revenge. It is this meaning that comes across in the phrase "in spite of". E.g. "My dad told me not to go to the party, but in spite of what he said, I went anyway."

By extension, it can mean wilful and peevish disobedience to the common-sense dictates of reality. E.g. "In spite of the pouring rain, I determined to go tenting." The word "despite", which obviously comes from the same root, means exactly the same thing.