noun
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the condition or quality of being malign, malevolent, or deadly
-
(often plural) a malign or malicious act or feeling
Synonym Usage
See malevolence.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of malignity
1350–1400; Middle English malignitee, from Latin malignitās. See malign, -ity
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Scholars and theatergoers have debated that question at least since Coleridge stood aghast at his "motiveless Malignity."
From Seattle Times • Jan. 4, 2012
This may be known by the Union of those Symptoms, which carry the Marks of Malignity, with the Symptoms of the other Diseases.
From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)
Malignity is seldom at a loss for some blemish to point out.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 58, Number 360, October 1845 by Various
Malignity is the extreme of settled ill intent; virulence is an envenomed hostility.
From English Synonyms and Antonyms With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions by Fernald, James Champlin
The Malignity of these Land Vapours often does not extend itself to any considerable Distance, as we know by manifold Experience.
From An Account of the Diseases which were most frequent in the British military hospitals in Germany by Monro, Donald
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
