as in malice
the desire to cause pain for the satisfaction of doing harm
one of the characters in the novel is a cruel oppressor of such malignity that he came to be one of the most famous villains in all of literature
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of malignity
His Cyrano is the play’s hero, even if the character’s psychological limitations are as much a factor in the story as the machinations of De Guiche, whose malignity is sent up in Nathanson’s flamboyantly comic turn.
—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Sep. 2024
For a decade, the central drama of Trumpism has concerned the Republican élites who continued to support him—the story has been about their malignity, or opportunism, or willful moral blindness.
—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
The New Yorker,
16 Sep. 2023
Though Bilger does not quite say so, his grandfather emerges as a case study in the capacity for compartmentalization that is arguably more destructive of morality than outright malignity.
—
Fintan O’Toole,
The New York Review of Books,
20 July 2023
In a landscape of such confused malignity as capital-p Publishing, who actually suffers from an act like June’s?
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Zoe Hu,
Washington Post,
12 May 2023
American exceptionalism has two faces, equally transfixed with a sense of specialness—one radiant with the nation’s unique beneficence, the other sunk in its unrivaled malignity.
—
George Packer,
The Atlantic,
21 Nov. 2022
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Sep. 2024
For a decade, the central drama of Trumpism has concerned the Republican élites who continued to support him—the story has been about their malignity, or opportunism, or willful moral blindness.
—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
The New Yorker,
16 Sep. 2023
Though Bilger does not quite say so, his grandfather emerges as a case study in the capacity for compartmentalization that is arguably more destructive of morality than outright malignity.
—
Fintan O’Toole,
The New York Review of Books,
20 July 2023
In a landscape of such confused malignity as capital-p Publishing, who actually suffers from an act like June’s?
—
Zoe Hu,
Washington Post,
12 May 2023
American exceptionalism has two faces, equally transfixed with a sense of specialness—one radiant with the nation’s unique beneficence, the other sunk in its unrivaled malignity.
—
George Packer,
The Atlantic,
21 Nov. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malignity
Noun
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Although Ashley had alleged things like malice, ill-will and improper motives by Adam, that still fell short of proving that Adam knew that his statements were false.
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The documentary explores the dark web of fraud, deception and malice that led Parker to feign a pregnancy to try to bolster her relationship with boyfriend Wade Griffin — and when her fake due date passed, kill Hancock for her baby, Braxlynn Sage.
Noun
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Public Luxury is less a dissertation on those tenets than an emotional response to the struggle to achieve it—mouths dripping with venom, eyes swollen with tears, hearts heavy with love.
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One common misconception is that lionfish are inedible because of their venom.
Noun
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According to the Sheriff’s Office, a judge released Cruz on his own recognizance June 4 following his arraignment on felony animal cruelty charges in Sacramento Superior Court.
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At one point, the narrator, embarrassed by his own act of cruelty, gives a sobbing woman all his money and then leaves her alone in a hotel room.
Noun
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Disciples of this extremist hatred are running for office and winning in select primaries.
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But to the man himself, comedy is—like life—first and foremost about hatred of death.
Cite this Entry
“Malignity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malignity. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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