How to Use malign in a Sentence

malign

1 of 2 adjective

• These moves are of a malign nature.
  — Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
• The postponement of the trip due to bad weather just added to the malign promise of the place.
  — Literary Hub, 14 Aug. 2025
• The increase in their reserves would end up looking like a healthy aberration, not a malign trend.
  — The Economist, 23 Mar. 2021
• Epistemic elites need to walk away from the malign influence of this behavior.
  — WIRED, 8 Sep. 2022
• Both countries have become quick to assume the other has malign motives.
  — The Economist, 2 Jan. 2020
• This would allow malign actors to interfere in our elections.
  — State Rep. Matt Blumenthal, Hartford Courant, 12 Feb. 2026
• The tweets run counter to the DOJ’s arguments and hint at a more malign motive.
  — Mark Joseph Stern, Slate Magazine, 6 June 2017
• Iran’s malign activities across the region pose a long-term threat to stability in this part of the world.
  — Daniel Flatley, Bloomberg.com, 3 Apr. 2018
• The masochistic double bind is a malign version of the narrator’s problem.
  — Anne Enright, The New York Review of Books, 6 July 2020
• Russia and China are malign powers that seek to divide us in various ways.
  — Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 27 Aug. 2020
• The way this decision was released is evidence of malign intent.
  — Ryan Cooper, The Week, 2 Sep. 2021
• The story suggests that both men ignored the warnings and as a result were tools of malign foreign influence.
  — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 2 May 2021
• The despotic regime whose malign indifference killed so many and cost so much cannot be allowed to pretend that nothing happened.
  — Matthew Continetti, National Review, 12 June 2021
• His aggressive and malign behavior is really a factor in the world.
  — Fox News, 24 June 2018
• Trump said Iran had to be dealt with because of its nuclear-weapons threat and malign influence throughout the region.
  — Vivian Salama, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2026
• So far, at least, the people, laws, and institutions that Brann referred to have proved strong enough to prevail over this malign project.
  — John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2020
• The jais are believed to be malign forces that appear mostly at night, taking over their victims’ consciousness and forcing them to end their lives.
  — Camila Osorio, New Yorker, 17 Jan. 2026
• The invasion shows more malign intent — or at least more risk tolerance — than most analysts imagined.
  — Benjamin H. Friedman, The Week, 20 Mar. 2022
• But with the exception of a malign seductress, the characters are just too nice – which can be a comfort, but also a drama killer.
  — Heller McAlpin, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 Apr. 2021
• While most agree that Iran is a malign actor on the global stage, many asserted that the choice to use military force against it was a mistake.
  — Robert Schmad, The Washington Examiner, 3 Mar. 2026
• For the last half decade, countering foreign malign influence felt like tracking battleships in a game of naval warfare.
  — James P. Rubin, Foreign Affairs, 19 Nov. 2025
• The purveyor of misinformation promises to save you from malign forces.
  — Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, 24 Feb. 2022
• As the relic guides him, neither benevolent nor malign, Ham aches to be independent.
  — Lauren Leblanc, Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2022
• The main way to counter the malign power of vested interest is to meet organized money with organized people.
  — Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, 1 Sep. 2021
• Mr Hariri announced the move from Riyadh, blaming Iran’s malign influence on his country.
  — The Economist, 5 Nov. 2017
• The most malign actors are the usual suspects in Russia, China and Iran, but others lurk too.
  — Star Tribune, 2 Oct. 2020
• Will those who orchestrated the events leading up to January 6th be given a pass for their malign actions?
  — Charlie Dent, CNN, 21 June 2022
• Trump avoided direct confrontation with Putin and often sought to play down the Russian leader's malign actions.
  — Aamer Madhani, Star Tribune, 25 May 2021
• When a family living in a remote rural home reported that a malign power seemed to have taken over their house, Cornell was dispatched.
  — Literary Hub, 20 Oct. 2025
• Iranian embassies in the West, including the one in Ottawa, have been known to engage in malign behavior.
  — Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026

malign

2 of 2 verb

• Her supporters say she is being unfairly maligned in the press.
• His pride had been stung, but not enough to malign a good customer.
  — Penelope Green, New York Times, 27 Feb. 2024
• But for the most part, the conference’s goals are not malign.
  — Noah Rothman, National Review, 18 Jan. 2024
• Debra was maligning her own sweet Max just to get off the phone.
  — Allegra Goodman, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2023
• For decades, the scale has been maligned and its use mired in controversy.
  — Kimberly Garrison, Philly.com, 1 May 2018
• Yet when anyone points it out, they are brutally maligned as racist.
  — Stanley Goldfarb, National Review, 9 Oct. 2023
• And yet, strangely, most of those who malign tourists are often tourists themselves.
  — Sophie Haigney, The New Republic, 9 Mar. 2021
• These groups contend the scandal maligns the priesthood and harms the Catholic faith.
  — Martha Mendoza, Washington Post, 29 July 2019
• Trump's allies mounted a full-fledged campaign to pick the dossier apart -- and malign its author.
  — Matthew Mosk, ABC News, 18 Oct. 2021
• At least one of Stone's relatives, meanwhile, claims he was maligned.
  — Ruth Brown, idahostatesman, 1 June 2018
• She should be given credit for that, not maligned for not grabbing the hand when it was presented.
  — Fox News, 25 Apr. 2018
• With all this planning is also the usually maligned task of meal planning.
  — Mary Shannon Wells, Southern Living, 13 June 2026
• Perry won’t be the last person whose memory is maligned by this movement.
  — Kate Knibbs, WIRED, 30 Oct. 2023
• Once maligned as one of the worst video-game movies ever made, it’s now still maligned as one of the worst video-game movies ever made.
  — Mike Drucker, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026
• For a franchise maligned as being run poorly, Phoenix sure seems like one that has been run well in the last year or so.
  — New York Times, 5 Nov. 2019
• Thibodeau has been unfairly maligned for his hard-driving approach to the game.
  — Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Oct. 2025
• The two have been maligned for each of the past two seasons for having near bottom-of-the-league save percentages.
  — Ross McKeon, SFChronicle.com, 12 Dec. 2019
• In the video, the nurses malign the parents’ hygiene and breast-feeding practices.
  — Cate McQuaid, BostonGlobe.com, 19 May 2022
• Trump loved to mock and malign people with demeaning nicknames so that others would laugh at that person.
  — Dean Obeidallah, CNN, 27 June 2021
• Kennedy's rhetoric on autism has been embraced by some corners of the autism community and maligned in others.
  — Zac Anderson, USA Today, 22 Sep. 2025
• But in both eras, the scientists, they're maligned either by people in society or by these alien life forces.
  — Lauren Goode, WIRED, 21 Mar. 2024
• The Chiefs defense, maligned early in the season before coming on, got a three-and-out.
  — David Moore, Dallas News, 2 Feb. 2020
• Many nutrition researchers say seed oils have been unfairly maligned.
  — Maria Godoy, NPR, 21 July 2026
• Hours before the game, the Senators were maligned for their lineup choices.
  — Julian McKenzie, New York Times, 2 Nov. 2025
• So different to the liberal legacy media that is maligned by the likes of Musk.
  — Will Oremus, Washington Post, 14 Dec. 2023
• At times, it’s seemed futile, as the Royals’ beleaguered offense and maligned bullpen let them down.
  — Kansas City Star, 27 Apr. 2026
• Pelinka, who has been much maligned in this space, should be given credit for putting the Lakers in this position.
  — Bill Plaschke, latimes.com, 27 June 2019
• But the value of the verbal takedown is maybe best shown by the people who are uncomfortable in the big leagues of maligning.
  — Vulture, 22 Mar. 2023
• Trump and his supporters have managed to malign the scientists and marginalize the science.
  — Editorial Board Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 21 Sep. 2020
• These are malicious lies intended to damage and malign the brand of Parler.
  — Arielle Pardes, Wired, 12 Nov. 2020