SYNONYMS | EXAMPLES | WORD ORIGIN 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.
Origin of malign 1275–1325; Middle English maligne <
Middle French <
Latin malignus. See
mal- ,
benign Related forms ma·lign·er , noun ma·lign·ly , adverb un·ma·ligned , adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for maligned Contemporary Examples of maligned Biographer Andrew Roberts argues that history has maligned Napoleon by lumping him in with totalitarian thugs.
It's a place where minorities are degraded and maligned for fun.
“Haters gonna hate” makes the person who says it into an automatic martyr, persecuted, misunderstood, maligned .
And in the end, it seems that Phillips, my old mentor, maligned as he has been by Cuban disinformation, will have the last laugh.
Take Mitt Romney, surely the most maligned front-runner of modern times.
Historical Examples of maligned The maligned Mrs. Dott announced that she had a good mind to box his ears.
You shall be a witness hereafter of how deeply I am maligned .
I spurned him from me with violence because he had maligned your wife.
I said I was pleased to hear it, no doubt someone had maligned them.
I did not enlighten him, for I had no desire to hear her maligned .
British Dictionary definitions for maligned adjective evil in influence, intention, or effect
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verb (tr) to slander or defame
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Derived Forms maligner , noun malignly , 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
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Word Origin and History for maligned v. "to slander," mid-15c., from earlier more literal sense of "to plot, to contrive" (early 15c.), from Old French malignier "to plot, deceive, pervert," from Late Latin malignare "to do maliciously," from malignus (see malign (adj.)). Related: Maligned ; maligning .
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adj. early 14c., from Old French maligne "having an evil nature," from Latin malignus "wicked, bad-natured," from male "badly" (see mal- ) + -gnus "born," from gignere "to bear, beget," from PIE root *gn- "to bear" (see genus ).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
