malign

[ muh-lahyn ]

/ məˈlaɪn /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR malign ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to speak harmful untruths about; speak evil of; slander; defame: to malign an honorable man.

adjective

evil in effect; pernicious; baleful; injurious: The gloomy house had a malign influence upon her usually good mood.

having or showing an evil disposition; malevolent; malicious.

Nearby words

malic acid, malice, malice aforethought, malicious, malicious mischief, malign, malignancy, malignant, malignant anemia, malignant bubo, malignant ciliary epithelioma

Origin of malign

1275–1325; Middle English maligne < Middle French < Latin malignus. See mal-, benign

SYNONYMS FOR malign

1 libel, calumniate; disparage; revile, abuse, vilify.

2 baneful.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR malign ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR malign

1 praise.

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Related forms

ma·lign·er, nounma·lign·ly, adverbun·ma·ligned, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for maligned

Biographer Andrew Roberts argues that history has maligned Napoleon by lumping him in with totalitarian thugs.
Napoleon Was a Dynamite Dictator|J.P. O’Malley|November 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It's a place where minorities are degraded and maligned for fun.
The Fox News Apology Tour|Dean Obeidallah|October 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Haters gonna hate” makes the person who says it into an automatic martyr, persecuted, misunderstood, maligned.
Why We Should Hate 'Haters Gonna Hate'|Tim Teeman|August 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And in the end, it seems that Phillips, my old mentor, maligned as he has been by Cuban disinformation, will have the last laugh.
The Evil Genius of Fidel Castro|Glenn L. Carle|June 10, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Take Mitt Romney, surely the most maligned front-runner of modern times.
Iowa Caucuses Are as Distorted as a Funhouse Mirror|Howard Kurtz|January 2, 2012|DAILY BEAST
The one maligned by the mischievous gossip had been cast off, and alienated.
Jessamine|Marion Harland
The facts can have been scarcely known which were to present Shelley to his imagination as a maligned and persecuted man.
Life and Letters of Robert Browning|Mrs. Sutherland Orr
In order to save the property he has maligned my mother, and has cheated me and the creditors most horribly—most infernally.
Mr. Scarborough's Family|Anthony Trollope
Opposite the nervous yet legible scrawl of the noble and maligned Magyar, Landor traced the following answer.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 103, May, 1866|Various
Many of St. Mary's parishioners of to-day are descended from these maligned Quakers.
America, Volume I (of 6)|Joel Cook

British Dictionary definitions for maligned

malign

/ (məˈlaɪn) /

adjective

evil in influence, intention, or effect

verb

(tr) to slander or defame

Derived Forms

maligner, nounmalignly, adverb

Word Origin for malign

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

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