malevolent
Americanadjective
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wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious.
His failures made him malevolent toward those who were successful.
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evil; harmful; injurious.
a malevolent inclination to destroy the happiness of others.
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Astrology. evil or malign in influence.
adjective
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wishing or appearing to wish evil to others; malicious
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astrology having an evil influence
Other Word Forms
- malevolence noun
- malevolently adverb
- unmalevolent adjective
- unmalevolently adverb
Etymology
Origin of malevolent
First recorded in 1500–10; from Latin malevolent-, stem of malevolēns “ill-disposed, spiteful,” from male- male- + volēns “wanting” (present participle of velle “to want, wish for, desire”; will 1 )
Explanation
If someone is malevolent, they wish evil on others. If you find yourself approaching someone with a malevolent look in her eye, best to run the other way. Malevolent comes from the Latin word malevolens, which means "ill-disposed, spiteful"; its opposite is benevolent, which means "wishing good things for others." A malevolent person might display satisfaction at someone else's problems. But it's not only individuals who can be malevolent. If you think that television violence influences viewers to violence, you see television as a malevolent force. The stress is on the second syllable: muh-LEV-uh-lent.
Vocabulary lists containing malevolent
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Take the Bad with the Good: Bene and Mal
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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.
Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei recently cited horrifying scenarios if the technology falls into malevolent hands.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026
But he sure makes the strongest case for being the most malevolent, influential force there, a malignancy that poisons everything he touches.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2026
“Or someone who’s so malevolent that they don’t care.”
From Salon • Oct. 31, 2025
We know these animals are not malevolent, just trying to survive, and so the traps dispatch them with as little suffering as possible.
From Slate • Aug. 8, 2025
“Marsha Jean is somewhere close behind. I’m certain of it. I can feel her malevolent presence.”
From "Raymie Nightingale" by Kate DiCamillo
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.
