Meaning & use
evil intention
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Meanings
nouncountableformal
A plan or purpose to do something morally wrong or to harm someone.
Grammar: Countable: say 'an evil intention' or 'evil intentions'; the plural is far more common in real use.
Patterns
- have evil intentions
- with evil intention
- evil intention to do something
The court decided that he had acted with evil intention, not by accident.
Her words sounded kind, but I suspected she had evil intentions.
They accused the company of evil intention in hiding the safety report.
noununcountablelegallaw
In law, the awareness that an act is wrong, which can make a person legally responsible.
Grammar: Used without 'a' or 'an' in legal writing: 'the question of evil intention'.
Patterns
- prove evil intention
- without evil intention
The prosecution must prove evil intention beyond reasonable doubt.
A mistake made without evil intention is usually not a crime.
Word forms
| plural | evil intentions |
|---|
Common combinations
- have evil intentions
- The stranger seemed friendly, but I wondered whether he had evil intentions.
- with evil intention
- She deleted the files with evil intention, hoping to blame a colleague.
- suspect evil intentions
- The guard suspected evil intentions and refused to let them in.
- without evil intention
- He broke the rule without evil intention and apologized at once.
Synonyms and how they differ
- malice
- Malice is a stronger, more formal word for a desire to harm, and is common in legal English.
- bad intent
- Bad intent is more informal and general; evil intention sounds more serious and moral.
Opposites
Word family
- intention noun
- a plan or aim to do something
- intentional adjective
- done on purpose
- intentionally adverb
- in a deliberate way
Commonly confused: evil intention or intention?
evil intention vs intention
Intention simply means a plan or aim and can be good or bad; evil intention adds the idea that the aim is morally wrong.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'evil intention' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Evil intention' is a noun phrase meaning a plan to do wrong, and it fits naturally after 'with' in a legal context. Option An is wrong because helping a neighbor is good, not evil; C and D use the phrase as a verb or adjective, which it is not.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “evil intention”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.