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
The deceased individuals who were subjected to corpse-killing were not always once powerful and malevolent, like King Abel.
—
Rivka Galchen, New Yorker, 7 Jan. 2026
Her first book, Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto, brought us to a Finnish convalescent hospital, and left us in the arms of a malevolent surgeon.
—Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
The list includes a narrative that is negative, malevolent, anti-Jensen Huang, and, for the selfish purposes of yours truly, oppositional to the trust’s portfolio.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 21 Dec. 2025
Published by Electronic Arts (EA), the game follows authors Mio Hudson and Zoe Foster who become trapped in the fictional world of their books by a malevolent machine.
—Marc Saltzman, USA Today, 19 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malevolent
Rivka Galchen, New Yorker, 7 Jan. 2026
Her first book, Your Presence is Requested at Suvanto, brought us to a Finnish convalescent hospital, and left us in the arms of a malevolent surgeon.
—Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Jan. 2026
The list includes a narrative that is negative, malevolent, anti-Jensen Huang, and, for the selfish purposes of yours truly, oppositional to the trust’s portfolio.
—Jim Cramer, CNBC, 21 Dec. 2025
Published by Electronic Arts (EA), the game follows authors Mio Hudson and Zoe Foster who become trapped in the fictional world of their books by a malevolent machine.
—Marc Saltzman, USA Today, 19 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malevolent
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malevolent
Adjective
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Rodney Ward could face up to 25 years in prison for the charges of theft and malicious destruction of property.—
Caroline Foreback,
CBS News,
18 Feb. 2026
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Their poverty, the fruit of Salieri’s malicious ploys, tests the limits of their endurance.—
Theater Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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There are fun villains; Reggie’s nemesis is a sneakily vicious NFL alum (Craig Robinson) with the splendid name Jerry Basmati.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
20 Feb. 2026
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Anderson received the Sydney Schanberg Prize for his reporting on decades of war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where regional and global actors have fuelled one of the world’s most vicious entrenched conflicts.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
18 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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His lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, sought to show that his past had formed him, but there was a cruel irony in the reference.—
Gaby Wood,
Vogue,
21 Feb. 2026
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Many of these schools are impossibly competitive – impossibly and fantastically cruel.—
Anastasia Tsioulcas,
NPR,
20 Feb. 2026
Adjective
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Are human beings prone to doing hateful things?—
Tara Sonenshine,
Baltimore Sun,
9 Feb. 2026
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Logan Paul called out his brother Jake Paul for his hateful take on the Bad Bunny halftime show.—
Prince J. Grimes,
USA Today,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Malevolent.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malevolent. Accessed 23 Feb. 2026.
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