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
It bore the painting of a woman of strange beauty, but the dark eyes stared into vacancy with a cold malignity of expression.
From Slate ● Oct. 14, 2018
What about that insistent crisis of national conscience “the American Negro”? And was all this due to something lodged deep in the system, something intrinsically American—or was it the singular malignity of Lyndon Johnson?
From The New Yorker ● May 22, 2017
The existence of pure malignity must, it is true, be admitted; it may be partly explained as love of the "sensational," the novel; the full explanation must be left to the psychologist.
From A Review of the Systems of Ethics Founded on the Theory of Evolution by C. M. Williams
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
Those things that are harmful to man are called uses because they are of use to the evil in doing evil, and also are serviceable in absorbing malignities and thus also as remedies.
From Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom by John Ager
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 Louis Raemaekers
The cabal which gathered head against Bajazet could only whisper its malignities when Mithridate appeared.
From A History of French Literature Short Histories of the Literatures of the World: II. by Edmund Gosse
Mr. Kahn, notwithstanding threats and malignities, went out to speak to them—individually, through newspaper articles, or at great mass meetings.
From Right Above Race by Otto Hermann Kahn
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