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.
Scholars and theatergoers have debated that question at least since Coleridge stood aghast at his "motiveless Malignity."
From Seattle Times • Jan. 4, 2012
Malignity, now sure of impunity, heaped up invectives on the falling hero.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 373, November 1846 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
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
Malignity of this type was strange to him and differed widely from the petty bickerings, jealousies, and strifes of ordinary country existence.
From Children of the Mist by Phillpotts, Eden
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.
