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
At least until all hell breaks loose in a kinetic movie that revels in its unrelenting nastiness.
—
David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2026
In this moment when fine dining is being roiled by toxic behavior, Nancy’s eight restaurants offer proof that nastiness is no recipe for success.
—Ruth Reichl, Time, 15 Apr. 2026
The nastiness has really surprised me, stunned me, and the democratic decay.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2026
The potential nastiness of this year’s race has led others to be cautious about tossing their hat into the ring.
—Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
Amanda says she’s stuck by him through the rumors and nastiness, as Meredith Marks would say, and all the terrible things he’s done, but she will not be talked to like that anymore; she’s done.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2026
Meanwhile, the movie’s villains — played by recognizable faces, among them Heather Graham and Tom Felton — get pretty much zero by way of personality, or even superficial nastiness, making Asia’s reprisals a whole lot less entertaining.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 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
David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 Apr. 2026
In this moment when fine dining is being roiled by toxic behavior, Nancy’s eight restaurants offer proof that nastiness is no recipe for success.
—Ruth Reichl, Time, 15 Apr. 2026
The nastiness has really surprised me, stunned me, and the democratic decay.
—David Frum, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2026
The potential nastiness of this year’s race has led others to be cautious about tossing their hat into the ring.
—Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
Amanda says she’s stuck by him through the rumors and nastiness, as Meredith Marks would say, and all the terrible things he’s done, but she will not be talked to like that anymore; she’s done.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 1 Apr. 2026
Meanwhile, the movie’s villains — played by recognizable faces, among them Heather Graham and Tom Felton — get pretty much zero by way of personality, or even superficial nastiness, making Asia’s reprisals a whole lot less entertaining.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nastiness
Noun
-
The jury did not find Mimms guilty of malice murder.—
Dan Raby,
CBS News,
17 Apr. 2026
-
Coel bites into the acerbic bitterness of that history in their early exchanges, with a vein of malice in questions supposedly intended to reveal who Mary has become and hence what kind of dress will feel true to her.—
David Rooney,
HollywoodReporter,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
There are no great surprises from here on out, though the sheer, lusty grossness of the fallout is occasionally startling.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
16 Apr. 2026
-
If an exclamation point only signified gore and grossness, this gothic rock opera would more than qualify.—
Rachel Simon,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The injured party should not apply a tourniquet, apply ice, try to suck out the venom or cut the wound, the agency warned.—
Sam Gillette,
PEOPLE,
15 Apr. 2026
-
The two alternate versions of each other trade insults, but Spidey Miles charges up an electric venom shock and frees himself.—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
His vulgarity, insults and threats do not make America great.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
11 Apr. 2026
-
The values are different now, the lifestyles, the accepted vulgarity, the manners, the view of what’s patriotic and what’s not, the concept of service.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Apr. 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
-
Hard fouls, trash talk and verbal jabs on the floor, and in the media, set a slight tone of hatred that fuels competitiveness and creates lasting memories.—
Jace Frederick,
Twin Cities,
18 Apr. 2026
-
Like Carlson, his hatred of Jews led him to claim support for the one minority with which the state of the Jewish people is in conflict.—
Alan M. Dershowitz,
New York Daily News,
16 Apr. 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
-
This action demonstrates the president’s monumental cruelty, total lack of empathy and compassion, pathological narcissism, boundless vengefulness, abysmal ignorance and glaring immaturity.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
21 Apr. 2026
-
An animal cruelty investigation was also initiated in Denton County due to the living conditions observed involving both individuals and animals.—
S.E. Jenkins,
CBS News,
21 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nastiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nastiness. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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