maleficent
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of maleficent
1670–80; back formation from Latin maleficentia maleficence; see -ent
Explanation
When you're maleficent, you're evil or want to do evil things. So it's safe to say that Satan is one maleficent guy. This word is a bit old-fashioned and you don't hear it often. But there are still plenty of maleficent people in the world — they're the bad guys, the evil-doers, the folks who wish harm on others. Maleficent means something very close to malevolent or diabolical and is a lot stronger than naughty or mischievous.
Vocabulary lists containing maleficent
"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 1–7
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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.
“It’s really hard to predict all the maleficent uses,” said Giada Pistilli, principal ethicist at Hugging Face.
From Slate • Jan. 14, 2023
But Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” beats them all: a maleficent house, real human protagonists, everything half-seen or happening in the dark.
From New York Times • Jul. 16, 2018
The actor, more often cast as likable and light, makes fairy-tale Flynn maleficent.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 28, 2014
Any escape movie has a built-in spring with a doomsday clock ticking toward midnight as the underground heroes near their freedom while the forces of maleficent authority close in on them.
From Time • Oct. 11, 2012
But they who abandon belief in maleficent demons and in witches as also, for this follows, in beneficent agents, such as angels, find themselves in a serious dilemma.
From The Necessity of Atheism by Brooks, David Marshall
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.
