A friend of mine, a respected linguist, mentioned recently that "despite" (prep) is outdated. Whilst it is true that I hardly ever hear someone using the word in ordinary conversation, I still hear it in scientific seminars, lectures, congresses, etc and I also come across it in technical texts once in a while. What I mean here is "despite" and not "despite of" or "in despite of" which are clearly archaic. The search I've done includes the mainstream dictionaries (ODO, TFD, Merriam-Webster, etc) and they don't mention the word being outdated.
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3 Answers
Well, here's the Google Ngram for despite. I don't know what it would look like if it was becoming outdated, but I doubt it would look like this:
answered Jan 6, 2015 at 16:26
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4Hard to say whether I hear it or use it (because I don't monitor my conversation like that) but if I didn't I'd expect to feel that it was strange or unusual and I don't (in British English at least). Despite seems quite a normal word. Commented Jan 6, 2015 at 22:21
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1@centaurus I definitely heard it in an interview I had the other day. It's also generally on the lists of different kinds of "linkers" for students doing English for Academic Purposes, IELTS, CAE and the like - one of the reasons that I decided to check it out. Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 0:58
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2I use it frequently. Though I often change it up with "in spite of" so as to not sound repetitive. Admittedly, I use the word "despite" far more often when writing than speaking in everyday conversation. Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 20:40
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1Even more to the point, here's a more complete picture. Not only is despite quickly gaining momentum, but the only real alternative in spite of is just as quickly losing in popularity. Commented Jan 8, 2015 at 15:45
Uses of despite found on the web in the last hour
Uses of despite found on news sites in the last hour
It's alive and well.
answered Jan 6, 2015 at 16:37
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5If anything, it's a go-to filler word for novice academic writers. Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 3:21
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2Also recent uses of "despite" found on Stack Exchange sites perhaps? Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 6:27
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@Octopus ah, perhaps a side-effect of google's approach to geolocation. Could you try again please and tell me if it works after my edit? Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 17:35
is it still being used?
An example, from the Associated Press, dated tomorrow
(so, it seems not only is it being used now, it will still be used in the future!)
American businesses ramped up hiring last month, in the latest sign that the nation’s economy is expanding despite worries about global growth.
