as in malicious
having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it
the novel grossly oversimplified the conflict as a struggle between relentlessly malevolent villains on one side and faultless saints on the other
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Recent Examples of malevolent
When faced with an intractable problem, or with a person or movement that is malevolent in its very nature, fundamental rupture and daring rejection is required.
—
David Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Their agencies — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the WHO — were unreliable and often malevolent.
—David Blumenthal, STAT, 24 Mar. 2026
When a corpse turns up and evidence of a malevolent presence emerges, the detective sets about piecing together what the cabin is hiding while the others desperately seek a way out.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 17 Mar. 2026
This saga is almost a perfect encapsulation of the administration, which somehow manages to be both malevolent and incompetent, highly disorganized while still doing a lot of damage.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 4 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for malevolent
David Brooks, The Atlantic, 25 Mar. 2026
Their agencies — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the WHO — were unreliable and often malevolent.
—David Blumenthal, STAT, 24 Mar. 2026
When a corpse turns up and evidence of a malevolent presence emerges, the detective sets about piecing together what the cabin is hiding while the others desperately seek a way out.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 17 Mar. 2026
This saga is almost a perfect encapsulation of the administration, which somehow manages to be both malevolent and incompetent, highly disorganized while still doing a lot of damage.
—New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 4 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for malevolent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malevolent
Adjective
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Benjamin Parris, also 19, of Greenville, South Carolina, is charged with two counts of malicious destruction of property of $1,000 or more but less than $20,000 and two counts of conspiracy to commit malicious destruction of property of $1,000 or more but less than $20,000.—
Joseph Buczek,
CBS News,
22 Apr. 2026
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Instead of using obvious malicious code, the attackers built the installer with legitimate tools and layered the attack in stages.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
21 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Now, is that the same as a soldier betting on the capture of a vicious dictator?—
Zach Dean OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
24 Apr. 2026
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Beijing has long struggled to drive domestic consumption, while brutal competition in many industries has pushed producers to cut prices, triggering a vicious cycle in which people hold off on purchases in anticipation of coming discounts.—
Jeronimo Gonzalez,
semafor.com,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Dahl’s books are fanciful and imaginative, but also dark, cynical, and mean (and, unfortunately, often reflected his real-life ugliness), spinning stories in which gruesome and unpleasant fates befell rotten kids, and adults were frequently selfish, cruel, and not to be trusted.—
Wilson Chapman,
IndieWire,
10 Apr. 2026
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Violating that trust is both cruel and unlawful.—
DeJanay Booth-Singleton,
CBS News,
10 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Fuentes and his hateful mob — along with the rest of the world — are still waiting for the segment to air on CNN.—
Kevin Dolak,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Apr. 2026
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While Kirk was praised by conservatives as a champion of free speech, he was also criticized for comments that many other Americans found hateful toward LGBTQ+ communities, non-Christians, people of color and women.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
15 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Malevolent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malevolent. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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