Meaning & use
malignity
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountableformal
A fierce, lasting wish to hurt other people, often seen as part of someone's character.
Grammar: Not used with an or a plural: he acted with malignity, not with several malignities.
Patterns
- with malignity
- the malignity of someone
The critic's review was written with unmistakable malignity.
She could not understand the malignity behind the rumors.
The novel portrays a landlord whose malignity grows with every chapter.
noununcountableformalmedical
The dangerous, harmful quality of something such as a disease, especially when it is likely to spread or cause death.
Grammar: Used mainly in older or formal medical writing instead of the more usual malignancy.
Patterns
- the malignity of something
The doctor feared the malignity of the growth.
Early physicians described the malignity of the fever in detail.
Word forms
| plural | malignities |
|---|
Common combinations
- pure malignity
- The note was full of pure malignity.
- act with malignity
- He acted with malignity toward his old rivals.
- the malignity of fate
- The poet wrote of the malignity of fate.
- sheer malignity
- Their gossip was driven by sheer malignity.
- look of malignity
- A look of malignity crossed his face.
Synonyms and how they differ
- malice
- Malice is the everyday word for wanting to hurt someone, while malignity sounds deeper, colder and more literary.
- spite
- Spite is petty and personal, whereas malignity suggests something darker and more settled in a person.
- malevolence
- Malevolence is very close in sense, but it focuses on ill will in general rather than a fixed cruel nature.
- venom
- Venom is a figurative image of bitter hatred shown in words, whereas malignity names the underlying evil wish.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: malignity or malignancy?
malignity vs malignancy
Malignancy is the usual modern word for a cancerous tumor, while malignity today mostly means deep ill will.
Practice
Which sentence uses malignity in its main sense?
Choose one answer.
Malignity is a deep wish to harm others, so a hostile stare fits. The other options treat it as a product, a field of study or a mild feeling of pleasure.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “malignity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.