malignant

[ muh-lig-nuhnt ]

/ məˈlɪg nənt /

adjective

disposed to cause harm, suffering, or distress deliberately; feeling or showing ill will or hatred.

very dangerous or harmful in influence or effect.

Pathology.

tending to produce death, as bubonic plague.
(of a tumor) characterized by uncontrolled growth; cancerous, invasive, or metastatic.

Nearby words

malice aforethought, malicious, malicious mischief, malign, malignancy, malignant, malignant anemia, malignant bubo, malignant ciliary epithelioma, malignant dyskeratosis, malignant fibrous histiocytoma

Origin of malignant

1535–45; < Late Latin malignant- (stem of malignāns), present participle of malignāre to act maliciously. See malign, -ant

SYNONYMS FOR malignant

1 spiteful, malevolent.

2 perilous, hurtful, pernicious.

ANTONYMS FOR malignant

1–3 benign.

Related forms

ma·lig·nant·ly, adverbnon·ma·lig·nant, adjectivenon·ma·lig·nant·ly, adverbsem·i·ma·lig·nant, adjective

sem·i·ma·lig·nant·ly, adverbun·ma·lig·nant, adjectiveun·ma·lig·nant·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for malignantly

The fact is, we would never know how malignantly wicked our hearts are but for our eyes.
Bunyan Characters - Third Series|Alexander Whyte
Almost every year the rumour of his death was spread abroad, malignantly, as he himself thinks.
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation|Johan Huizinga
Colonel Cunningham speaks of “the malignantly sneaking expression of the pallid eyes.”
Birds of the Plains|Douglas Dewar
He had therefore little right to expect indulgence from the party which he had unfairly and malignantly assailed.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.|Thomas Babington Macaulay

Thereupon the hotheads lowered upon him malignantly, and Hardy Atkins hunted up his high-life bottle.
Bat Wing Bowles|Dane Coolidge

British Dictionary definitions for malignantly

malignant

/ (məˈlɪɡnənt) /

adjective

having or showing desire to harm others

tending to cause great harm; injurious

pathol (of a tumour) uncontrollable or resistant to therapy; rapidly spreading

noun

history (in the English Civil War) a Parliamentarian term for a royalist (def. 1)

Derived Forms

malignantly, adverb

Word Origin for malignant

C16: from Late Latin malīgnāre to behave spitefully, from Latin malīgnus malign

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medicine definitions for malignantly

malignant

[ mə-lĭg′nənt ]

adj.

Threatening to life, as a disease; virulent.

Tending to metastasize; cancerous. Used of a tumor.

Science definitions for malignantly

malignant

[ mə-lĭg′nənt ]

Tending to have a destructive clinical course, as a malignant illness.

Relating to cancer cells that are invasive and tend to metastasize. Malignant tumor cells are histologically more primitive than normal tissue. Compare benign.

Culture definitions for malignantly

malignant

A descriptive term for things or conditions that threaten life or well-being. Malignant is the opposite of benign.

Note

The term malignant is used in describing cancerous tumors (see cancer) because such growths are a threat to the health of the individual.

Note

The term is often used in a general way to denote something that is both destructive and fast growing: “The malignant growth of the suburbs is destroying the landscape.”