1
as in malice
the desire to cause pain for the satisfaction of doing harm
there was a natural nastiness about him that was evident from the time he was a small child
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in grossness
the quality or state of being obscene
the nastiness of the graffiti required that the school remove it immediately
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
as in dustiness
the state or quality of being dirty
the piles of rotting food in the kitchen were only one element in the apartment's general impression of appalling nastiness
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of nastiness
On the right, the primary between incumbent Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is heading to a runoff, which likely promises nearly three months of nastiness.
—
Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
Released post-Columbine and heavily influenced by that tragedy, Scream 3 walks back from the gruesome violence and flashes of genuine nastiness that permeated the previous installments.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Mar. 2026
Those guys have physicality, nastiness, speed, smarts.
—Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 3 Feb. 2026
After the uncompromising nastiness of 2007’s Margot at the Wedding and 2010’s Greenberg, Baumbach has allowed a little more light — though often just a little — to slip into his subsequent work, especially once Greta Gerwig came into his life as a favorite star and creative partner.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
In-state offensive tackle Maxwell Riley is impressive changing direction and finishes plays with the type of nastiness that will endear him to fans in Columbus.
—Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025
Tracy’s dialogue, though absent the staccato non sequiturs of the director’s earlier work, has a bracing nastiness; every visual flourish and every menacing thrum of the score, by Jerskin Fendrix, escalates the intensity of Stone and Plemons’s bravura showdown.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
In this battle for reputation protection, no one’s a winner — including the audience who might just want to shower after all this nastiness and cruelty ends.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2025
No wonder a little nastiness surfaced at the fair when the Senate candidates took reporters’ questions.
—Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
Released post-Columbine and heavily influenced by that tragedy, Scream 3 walks back from the gruesome violence and flashes of genuine nastiness that permeated the previous installments.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Mar. 2026
Those guys have physicality, nastiness, speed, smarts.
—Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 3 Feb. 2026
After the uncompromising nastiness of 2007’s Margot at the Wedding and 2010’s Greenberg, Baumbach has allowed a little more light — though often just a little — to slip into his subsequent work, especially once Greta Gerwig came into his life as a favorite star and creative partner.
—Scott Tobias, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2025
In-state offensive tackle Maxwell Riley is impressive changing direction and finishes plays with the type of nastiness that will endear him to fans in Columbus.
—Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025
Tracy’s dialogue, though absent the staccato non sequiturs of the director’s earlier work, has a bracing nastiness; every visual flourish and every menacing thrum of the score, by Jerskin Fendrix, escalates the intensity of Stone and Plemons’s bravura showdown.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
In this battle for reputation protection, no one’s a winner — including the audience who might just want to shower after all this nastiness and cruelty ends.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2025
No wonder a little nastiness surfaced at the fair when the Senate candidates took reporters’ questions.
—Laura Washington, Chicago Tribune, 20 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nastiness
Noun
-
The hypocrisy and malice are stunning.—
Betsy McCaughey,
Boston Herald,
9 Mar. 2026
-
Count 1, malice murder, guilty.—
Erin Moriarty,
CBS News,
8 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
If an exclamation point only signified gore and grossness, this gothic rock opera would more than qualify.—
Rachel Simon,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
-
The characters’ propensity for ugly faces, silliness and a bit of grossness too, stems from the portrayals of girlhood and young womanhood that appeal to them.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Natural products inspired by organisms include GLP-1 receptor agonists for weight loss, spider and snake venoms, and compounds from plants and fungi with potential uses in pain relief and cancer treatment.—
Hanna Wickes,
Charlotte Observer,
6 Mar. 2026
-
Toxins in many animal venoms, for example, are peptides.—
Dominique Mosbergen,
Time,
24 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
It is hoped that political ad campaigns would aim to lessen the meanness and divisiveness and vulgarity that have damaged our democracy.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Feb. 2026
-
Former President Richard Nixon proved himself no slouch in the vulgarity department after reaching the White House in 1969.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
22 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
An earnest, has-a-costume-for-everything kind of guy, Daub is allergic to the greige and the dinge.—
Sandra Upson,
Wired,
18 Jan. 2021
-
Dinges said the two crewmembers whose sleep remained steady -- even in the absence of conventional daylight -- were those who kept to a strict schedule and found other ways to control their biological clocks.—
Michael Nedelman,
CNN,
1 June 2017
Noun
-
All of Iran’s proxies share a deep ideological hatred of Israel and America.—
Sudarsan Raghavan,
New Yorker,
12 Mar. 2026
-
Loud and proud Jews will not allow hatred or fear to deter our Jewish way of life or our presence in the world.—
Beth Bailey,
FOXNews.com,
11 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
By harnessing a particle accelerator to generate extraordinarily bright, coherent X-rays, the team was able to capture high-resolution internal anatomy in seconds, without the lengthy staining or other preprocessing steps often required for soft-tissue contrast in standard lab scanners.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
5 Mar. 2026
-
Using chemical imaging techniques, researchers attempted to determine whether the staining was intentional or accidental.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Christopher Lucas was arraigned in Quincy District Court, facing charges that include animal cruelty and hunting without a license.—
Penny Kmitt,
CBS News,
10 Mar. 2026
-
For too long, Wyoming has been an outlier in tolerating extreme cruelty toward its wild carnivores.—
Wendy Keefover,
Denver Post,
10 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nastiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nastiness. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
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