MEAN-SPIRITEDNESS Synonyms: 78 Similar and Opposite Words

mean-spiritedness

noun

as in animosity

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Recent Examples of mean-spiritedness Every day this White House offers up a fresh batch of lawlessness and recklessness and mean-spiritedness and just plain craziness. — Halle Troadec, ABC News, 2 Nov. 2025 There’s a weird mean-spiritedness amongst young male losers that is harming them. — Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025 There was a mean-spiritedness that the white COs up in the mountains had for us that the Black and brown ones who guarded us in Sing Sing did not. — John J. Lennon september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for mean-spiritedness

Noun

Trump’s animosity toward news outlets whose agenda runs counter to his own isn't new.

— ABC News, ABC News, 14 July 2026
More restrictions followed, and eventually animosity toward new immigrants led to the passage of laws in the 1920s creating a quota system tied to nationality.

— Albert Sun, New York Times, 2 July 2026

Definition of animosity

Noun

Sometimes the irony turns bitter and, with a typically Eastern European sensibility, highlights the paradoxes of institutions, as well as the madness and meanness born from the pursuit and preservation of power.

— Zac Ntim, Deadline, 8 June 2026
After 1965, when African Americans’ right to vote was constitutionally recognized, the meanness continued.

— Letters to the Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 May 2026

Definition of meanness

Noun

This production, by the National Asian American Theatre Company, navigates the antagonisms and the alliances with precision and economy; it is led by Jon Norman Schneider’s quietly stirring Henry and Teresa Avia Lim’s wily Queen Margaret.

— Marina Harss, New Yorker, 10 July 2026
Reynolds uses the modern expression culture war to describe the mutual antagonism; that feels right.

— James Traub, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026

Definition of antagonism

Noun

Renewed hostilities in the Persian Gulf also complicate the resumption of refining in the Middle East.

— David Goldman, CNN Money, 14 July 2026
However, Democratic lawmakers have denounced the resumption of the Iran war and the return to active hostilities, despite the interim cease-fire agreement signed June 17.

— Callum Sutherland, Time, 14 July 2026

Definition of hostility

Noun

In spite of their original values of humanitarianism and neutrality, these organizations have been morally debased from within, using the language of human rights and international justice yet deploying it on behalf of autocracies and against the liberal democracies that created them.

— Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026
The ball got away from Witt at short in spite of his best efforts to keep it on the infield.

— Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 27 June 2026

Definition of spite

Noun

Those short-term tweaks, rising costs and council rancor led to dual downgrades from ratings agencies earlier this year.

— A.D. Quig, Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2026
Yet as the memory of the Civil War faded, the meaning of the symbols changed; the names Sumner and Brooks became emblems of partisan rancor—a cautionary tale about the breakdown of civil discourse.

— Rob Wolfe, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026

Definition of rancor

Noun

White would not be happy about these songs being used to speculate about what goes on behind closed doors — that seems evident enough from the several songs on the album that express enmity toward snoops and know-it-alls.

— Chris Willman, Variety, 11 July 2026
After Cape Fear anchors us in those assurances, the men’s enmity continues manipulating our expectations and our beliefs.

— Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 26 June 2026

Definition of enmity

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“Mean-spiritedness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mean-spiritedness. Accessed 20 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of mean-spiritedness

noun

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