Meaning & use
malign
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Meanings
verbtransitiveformal
To say unfair or untrue things about someone in a way that damages how people see them.
Grammar: Takes an object, often a person: malign a colleague.
Patterns
- malign someone
- be maligned by someone
The newspaper maligned the mayor for years.
She felt unfairly maligned by her former friends.
The company has been maligned in the press.
adjectivebefore a nounformalliterary
Having a harmful or evil nature, or causing damage.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: a malign influence.
The villain had a malign influence on the town.
Some doctors feared a malign growth.
He cast a malign glance across the room.
Word forms
| third person singular | maligns |
|---|---|
| past tense | maligned |
| past participle | maligned |
| -ing form | maligning |
Common combinations
- unfairly maligned
- The film is unfairly maligned by critics.
- malign influence
- A malign influence at court led the king astray.
- malign someone's character
- Rivals tried to malign his character.
- much maligned
- The much maligned bus service is improving.
- malign intent
- There was no malign intent behind the message.
Synonyms and how they differ
- slander
- Slander is spoken and is usually a legal term for false statements, while malign is wider and need not be a crime.
- defame
- Defame is more formal and legal, and malign is a general word for speaking ill.
- smear
- Smear is more informal and suggests a deliberate campaign to ruin someone's name.
- harmful
- Harmful works as an adjective in everyday speech, while malign adds a sense of evil intent.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: malign or benign? malign or malignant?
malign vs benign
Benign is the opposite of the adjective malign: it means harmless or kind.
malign vs malignant
Malignant is the form used for cancer and for strongly evil intent, while malign is the form used for the verb and for general influences.
Practice
The politician said the press had ____ him by spreading false stories.
Choose one answer.
Maligned means spoke unfairly against, which fits false stories. Praised, assisted and defended all describe positive treatment.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “malign”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.