despite

despite, in spite of

These two prepositions are largely interchangeable and both can be followed by nouns or noun phrases or by constructions introduced by a participle (a verb ending in -ing): played despite an ankle sprain / had a restless night, despite cuddling for hours / stayed in Munich in spite of Wagner's seduction of his wife / were not admitted in spite of having higher grades. In all these examples, despite could be replaced by in spite of and vice versa. If a clause with a verb has to follow, this must be linked with the fact that and not simply that: He earned more than her despite [or in spite of] the fact that she worked longer hours. But note that although or even though can often replace the unwieldy sequence ‘despite the fact that’ without any loss of meaning.