noun
-
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
Intimately acquainted with Richard’s malignity, these ruined royals know only too well the toll of his depraved machinations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
His malignity and psychopathology seem to attract followers when these same characteristics should repulse people.
From Salon ● Mar. 4, 2024
But reflecting on Onfroy’s legacy also requires a frank confrontation with the malignity he inflicted.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 20, 2018
Their malignity flows from ambition, an irony that makes you want to avert your eyes, always an impediment to reading enjoyment.
From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2015
Hypocrisy, cynicism, cruelty, the absence of human sympathies, the pride and malignity of intellectual superiority have henceforth their symbol in Iago.
From Tragedy by Thorndike, Ashley H.
A dozen, a score of the pallid malignities seemed to pour in toward the center of the grove, where John Parry’s ghost marshaled his companions to fight them off.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
"What malignities and slanders," exclaims Diaz, "were now circulated against Cortez by his enemies in Mexico!"
From Hernando Cortez Makers of History by Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Ill-natured tittle-tattle, which should have been instantly nipped in the bud, had been allowed to assume disgraceful proportions; and the Throne itself had become involved in the personal malignities of the palace.
From Queen Victoria by Strachey, Giles Lytton
Kultur can by no means dispense with passions, vices and malignities.
From Raemaekers' Cartoon History of the War, Volume 1 The First Twelve Months of War by Raemaekers, Louis
All his little malignities, unless the epigram on Ward be his, are dead along with his little sentimentalities; while Byron’s Scourge hangs over his Memory.
From Letters of Edward FitzGerald in Two Volumes Vol. II by Wright, William Aldis
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.
