as in malicious
having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it
a malignant wish to lash out at everyone who was smarter, richer, or better-looking than he was
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of malignant
Isabella Strahan is living life to the fullest over a year after being diagnosed and treated for a malignant brain tumor.
—
Lawrence Yee, People.com, 28 Dec. 2024
Suzuki, who served as the CEO of Suzuki Motor from 1978 to 2015, died of malignant lymphoma, a type of cancer that occurs when white blood cells become cancerous and form lumps in the lymph nodes and organs.
—Greta Cross, USA TODAY, 27 Dec. 2024
Weiner told her a large malignant mass was compressing Nadine’s lungs and would soon suffocate her.
—J. David McSwane, ProPublica, 7 Dec. 2024
Others worry that autonomous systems might victimize vulnerable populations because of biases in their training data or that nonstate actors might hack or steal autonomous weapons and use them to malignant ends.
—Sebastian Elbaum, Foreign Affairs, 6 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for malignant 
Lawrence Yee, People.com, 28 Dec. 2024
Suzuki, who served as the CEO of Suzuki Motor from 1978 to 2015, died of malignant lymphoma, a type of cancer that occurs when white blood cells become cancerous and form lumps in the lymph nodes and organs.
—Greta Cross, USA TODAY, 27 Dec. 2024
Weiner told her a large malignant mass was compressing Nadine’s lungs and would soon suffocate her.
—J. David McSwane, ProPublica, 7 Dec. 2024
Others worry that autonomous systems might victimize vulnerable populations because of biases in their training data or that nonstate actors might hack or steal autonomous weapons and use them to malignant ends.
—Sebastian Elbaum, Foreign Affairs, 6 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for malignant
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malignant
Adjective
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Their malicious actions are putting the health of people, especially children, at grave risk, and will surely lead to future public health and migration crises in the U.S. – let alone suffering around the globe.—
David Faris,
Newsweek,
3 Feb. 2025
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The sci-fi/horror flick follows a crew aboard a spaceship called Prometheus who, while seeking the answers to humanity’s origin, find a rogue moon that is home to a malicious, advanced alien species.—
Yasmeen Hamadeh,
People.com,
2 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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The fans were on their feet and roaring after UCLA center Mara threw an outlet pass reminiscent of legendary predecessor Bill Walton to Eric Dailey Jr. for a vicious one-handed dunk.—
Houston Mitchell,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Jan. 2025
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Kevon Looney matched his regular season career-high with 18 points and Gary Payton II (15 points, nine rebounds) stamped the game with a vicious slam dunk with under a minute left.—
Danny Emerman,
The Mercury News,
30 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Banek has requested the Illinois Department of Public Health probe the cruel death, also asking that all evidence associated with the case be preserved.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
29 Jan. 2025
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But his cruel divisiveness is deflecting attention from the main event.—
Robert B. Reich,
Hartford Courant,
29 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Garvey’s legacy has been complicated, especially due to his sometimes hateful and violent rhetoric against Jews, white people, Catholics, and other groups.—
Brady Knox,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
19 Jan. 2025
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The settlement, announced by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, requires Rutgers to take a series of actions to combat discrimination on campus after 400 reports of hateful incidents on campus were filed between July 2023 and June 2024.—
Fox News Staff,
Fox News,
16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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The trailers show the girls in both the past and present timelines growing increasingly unhinged and the writers have promised us that this season will only get nastier.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
1 Feb. 2025
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Name calling, workplace gossip, nasty nicknames—the list of bad outcomes is virtually infinite.—
Andrew Couts,
WIRED,
27 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near malignant
Cite this Entry
“Malignant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malignant. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
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