as in malice
the desire to cause pain for the satisfaction of doing harm
nothing more than unprovoked meanness drove him to smash the child's toy
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Recent Examples of meanness
It is hoped that political ad campaigns would aim to lessen the meanness and divisiveness and vulgarity that have damaged our democracy.
—
Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 2026
Chicago Tribune, 25 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for meanness
Noun
-
All of that hope is now hitting a wall of regulatory unpredictability and malice as policy.—
Richard Hughes IV,
STAT,
18 Feb. 2026
-
Colt Gray, now 16, has been indicted on 55 felony counts, including four counts of malice murder, according to court documents.—
Eric Levenson,
CNN Money,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Colin Gray was charged with multiple counts of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and cruelty to children.—
Bill Hutchinson,
ABC News,
3 Mar. 2026
-
Deliberate cruelty to animals is one of the clearest red flags.—
Steven Yablonski,
CBS News,
3 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Toxins in many animal venoms, for example, are peptides.—
Dominique Mosbergen,
Time,
24 Feb. 2026
-
Treasury secretary blasts 'venom' from left after deadly Mar-a-Lago incident.—
,
FOXNews.com,
23 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
White people hurl the N-word at them daily, accompanied by varying degrees of hatred, disgust and violence.—
Lorraine Ali,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Feb. 2026
-
One on antisemitism and hatred and bigotry, and on that, that’s a black and white issue.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
23 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Meanness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/meanness. Accessed 5 Mar. 2026.
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