Link Centre Dictionary

malevolent

ma·le·vo·lent

UK/məˈlɛvələnt/ US/mʌˈlɛvʌlʌnt/ uncommon

adjective

1.

wishing or appearing to wish evil to others; arising from intense ill will or hatred

  • “a gossipy malevolent old woman”
  • “failure made him malevolent toward those who were successful”
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2.

extremely malevolent or malicious

  • “the malignant tongues of gossipers”
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3.

having or exerting a malignant influence

  • “malevolent stars”
  • “a malefic force”
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Origin

From Middle English *malevolent (suggested by Middle English malevolence), from Old French malivolent and Latin malevolentem, from male (“badly, wrongly”) + volens (“willing, wishing”), from velle (“to wish”).

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See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.