malignant
Americanadjective
-
disposed to cause harm, suffering, or distress deliberately; feeling or showing ill will or hatred.
- Synonyms:
- malevolent, spiteful
- Antonyms:
- benign
-
very dangerous or harmful in influence or effect.
- Synonyms:
- pernicious, hurtful, perilous
- Antonyms:
- benign
-
Pathology.
-
tending to produce death, as bubonic plague.
-
(of a tumor) characterized by uncontrolled growth; cancerous, invasive, or metastatic.
- Antonyms:
- benign
-
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
-
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
Usage
What’s the difference between malignant and benign? In a medical context, the word malignant is used to describe harmful masses or tumors that are cancerous and that grow and spread disease. The word benign is the opposite—it’s used to describe masses or tumors that are not cancerous (those that do not spread disease to other parts of the body).Both words are sometimes also used in general ways. Malignant can mean harmful or intended or intending to cause harm, while benign can mean kind, favorable, or gracious.The best clue to help remember their meanings is the prefix mal-, which means “bad” and shows up in a lot of other negative words, such as malfunction, malpractice, malicious, and maleficent.Here’s an example of malignant and benign used correctly in the same sentence.Example: She was afraid the lump was a malignant tumor, but it turned out to be a benign cyst—totally harmless.Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between malignant and benign.
Discover More
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.”
The term malignant is used in describing cancerous tumors (see cancer) because such growths are a threat to the health of the individual.
Other Word Forms
- malignantly adverb
- nonmalignant adjective
- nonmalignantly adverb
- semimalignant adjective
- semimalignantly adverb
- unmalignant adjective
- unmalignantly adverb
Etymology
Origin of malignant
First recorded in 1535–45; from Late Latin malignant-, stem of malignāns, present participle of malignāre “to act maliciously”; malign, -ant
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Over the course of a few weeks, Marty’s bone marrow had flooded his blood with malignant cells.
From Los Angeles Times
He had been approached by someone called Isabel, he says, who offered financial assistance after his eight-year-old daughter, Ana, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour.
From BBC
He adds that with longer-term use, this approach might possibly lead to complete healing of the cancer, effectively turning a malignant tumor into a benign one.
From Science Daily
Nearly 400 people with advanced, inoperable malignant melanoma took part in the study, which focused on this severe form of skin cancer.
From Science Daily
Glioblastoma develops from astrocytes, a type of brain cell, and is the most common malignant brain tumor, affecting about three in every 100,000 people in the U.S.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
