wishing evil or harm to others; having or showing ill will; malicious
Origin of malevolent
Old French malivolent from Classical Latin malevolens (gen. malevolentis) from male, evil (see mal-) + volens, present participle of velle, to wish: see will
adjective
Malevolent is defined as someone or something that is harmful or evil.
An example of someone malevolent is the wicked queen in the story of Snow White.
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malevolent
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"Malevolent." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Malevolent.
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Malevolent. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Malevolent
malevolent
adjective
- Having or exhibiting ill will; wishing harm to others; malicious.
- Having a harmful influence: malevolent stars.
Origin of malevolent
Latin malevolēns malevolent-; see malevolence .Related Forms:
- ma·lev′o·lent·ly
adverb
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"Malevolent." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Malevolent.
APA Style
Malevolent. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Malevolent
Adjective
(comparative more malevolent, superlative most malevolent)
- having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- having an evil or harmful influence
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"Malevolent." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Malevolent.
APA Style
Malevolent. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Malevolent
Sentence Examples
- Now I recalled every detail of that meeting and in my mind gave him the most malevolent and bitter replies.
- Gossip is hurtful and mean, and cannot be described as anything but malevolent.
- If Lancaster should justify the malevolent rumours that were afloat by making a snatch at the crown, the last state of the realm might be worse than the first.
- Very rarely do I meet a human being who is as malevolent as my cousin Bob.
- The antagonist of this new novel is one of the most twisted, malevolent villians I've ever read about.
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WORDS NEAR malevolent IN THE DICTIONARY
- malevolent
- maletreating
- maletreats
- Malevich Kasimir