malign

[muh-lahyn]

verb (used with object)

1. to speak harmful untruths about; speak evil of; slander; defame.

   to malign an honorable man.

   Synonyms: vilify, abuse, revile, disparage, calumniate, libel
   Antonyms: praise

adjective

1. evil in effect; pernicious; baleful; injurious.

   The gloomy house had a malign influence upon her usually good mood.

   Synonyms: baneful

2. having or showing an evil disposition; malevolent; malicious.

malign

/ məˈlaɪn /

adjective

1. evil in influence, intention, or effect

verb

1. (tr) to slander or defame

Other Word Forms

• maligner noun
• malignly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of malign¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English maligne, from Middle French, from Latin malignus; mal-, benign

Word History and Origins

Origin of malign¹

C14: via Old French from Latin malīgnus spiteful, from malus evil

Example Sentences

The previously maligned ADP gauge has confirmed the plateauing of payrolls outside the government sector.

Read more on Barron's

The image of Ginsberg that vividly emerges is that of an angry, bushily bearded man, polemicizing about corporations and the Times’s malign influence, and often breaking out in spiritualist chanting, all to Hujar’s profound disinterest.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Mark Savaya, the new US special envoy to Iraq, insisted on the importance of "a fully sovereign Iraq, free from malign external interference, including from Iran and its proxies".

Read more on Barron's

These people mirror the woke left’s self-obsessed identity politics and fantasies of malign Jewish influence.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Roberts eventually had no choice but to go to his maligned bullpen.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• besmirch 
• denigrate 
• disparage 
• insult 
• misrepresent 
• revile 
• smear 
• sully 
• taint 
• tarnish 
• vilify