maligned

[muh-lahynd]

adjective

1. spoken ill of; defamed or slandered.

   I pointed to my unweeded yard full of bees and waxed rhapsodic about the benefits of the maligned dandelion.

   Considered by many to be a usurper and murderer, Richard III is one of the most maligned kings in history.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of malign.

Other Word Forms

• unmaligned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of maligned¹

malign ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish—retained critical and popular esteem, but most were ignored by middle-class tastemakers or maligned as conduits of cultural degeneration.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

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

Read more on Barron's

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

Read more on Los Angeles Times

They are both the most revered and the most maligned cooks in our culture.

Read more on Salon

And there was Kershaw, after his maligned bullpen danced through danger and barely survived, admitting that maybe this game meant a little more.

Read more on Los Angeles Times