malignity

American  

[muh-lig-ni-tee] / məˈlɪg nɪ ti /

noun

plural

malignities

1. the state or character of being malign; malevolence; intense ill will; spite.

2. a malignant feeling, action, etc.

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malignity British  

/ məˈlɪɡnɪtɪ /

noun

1. the condition or quality of being malign, malevolent, or deadly

2. (often plural) a malign or malicious act or feeling

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Related Words

See malevolence.

Other Word Forms

• nonmalignity
  noun

Etymology

Origin of malignity

1350–1400; Middle English malignitee, from Latin malignitās. See malign, -ity

Example Sentences

Scholars and theatergoers have debated that question at least since Coleridge stood aghast at his "motiveless Malignity."

From Seattle Times • Jan. 4, 2012

Some such Fever of uncommon Malignity, I say, might perhaps be in Marseilles before the Arrival of these Goods.

From A Discourse on the Plague by Mead, Richard

Suppose I worked out as a disembodied spirit—and I quite admit it's as likely as not, neither more nor less—it does not necessarily follow that Malignity against Freethinkers is the only attribute of the Creator.

From When Ghost Meets Ghost by De Morgan, William Frend

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)

Purge away thine own, cast forth thence—from thine own mind, not robbers and monsters, but Fear, Desire, Envy, Malignity, Avarice, Effeminacy, Intemperance.

From The Golden Sayings of Epictetus by Epictetus