as in animosity
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Recent Examples of mean-spiritedness
Every day this White House offers up a fresh batch of lawlessness and recklessness and mean-spiritedness and just plain craziness.
—
Halle Troadec, ABC News, 2 Nov. 2025
There’s a weird mean-spiritedness amongst young male losers that is harming them.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025
There was a mean-spiritedness that the white COs up in the mountains had for us that the Black and brown ones who guarded us in Sing Sing did not.
—John J. Lennon
september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Halle Troadec, ABC News, 2 Nov. 2025
There’s a weird mean-spiritedness amongst young male losers that is harming them.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025
There was a mean-spiritedness that the white COs up in the mountains had for us that the Black and brown ones who guarded us in Sing Sing did not.
—John J. Lennon
september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mean-spiritedness
Noun
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Their competitiveness should resemble animosity, and Glenn should draw their ire.—
Marcus Thompson II,
New York Times,
4 Feb. 2026
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At a moment when there’s really just more animosity than probably in our life, maybe since Benedict Arnold days, between the US and Canada.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
31 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Welch and Sullivan dismiss concerns that their antagonism toward some Democrats is helpful to Trump, arguing that unscripted moments, even the spicier ones, are just what their side needs.—
Rachel Monroe,
Washington Post,
7 Feb. 2026
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Trump could either amp up the antagonism or claim to have pulled off a brilliant America First deal—though neither approach would, or should, put the Minnesota mess behind him completely.—
Chris Smith,
Vanity Fair,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Instead, an arcane academic skirmish has devolved into open hostilities.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
9 Feb. 2026
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Fox News Digital reviewed internal Signal chat messages from Seattle-area rapid response groups showing that the rejection of whistles triggered open hostility.—
Asra Q. Nomani,
FOXNews.com,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Colt Gray, now 16, has been indicted on 55 felony counts, including four counts of malice murder, and will be tried as an adult, according to court documents.—
Eric Levenson,
CNN Money,
8 Feb. 2026
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Nevermind that this is obviously the work of someone acting deliberately, stealthily and with obvious malice – not a drunk stumbling into their homes.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
29 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Injuries cannot be an excuse when a number of teams continue to win in spite of injuries.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
8 Feb. 2026
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Resilience, faith in spite of hate Around midday on a Friday in December, the EPIC Masjid was abuzz.—
Dallas Morning News,
Dallas Morning News,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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And with so much murder and mayhem in our contemporary history, many Iranians treat one another with suspicion and rancor.—
Arash Azizi,
Time,
3 Feb. 2026
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Some tried, without rancor, to simply explain that what Jones did is not what reporters normally do in postgame situations.—
David Aldridge,
New York Times,
14 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Winslow’s notable public enmity toward the current president, whose name will not cross his lips today, has been evident ever since the two-time destroyer of worlds first sought power.—
Fred Schruers,
Rolling Stone,
26 Jan. 2026
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Indeed, their body language and working relationship belies nothing of the boorish, antagonistic dynamic between Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose enmity risked lives (as when Cuomo held up a mass Covid vaccine site in New York due to his beef with de Blasio).—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
15 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Almost: Childhood is both bliss and terror, and the Richard D. James Album takes care to wrap malevolence and innocence tightly into the same steel coil.—
Sasha Geffen,
Pitchfork,
21 Jan. 2026
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There are cheerful barging amateurs, happy to be bounced about, and there are prowling malevolences, waiting for the moment to blindside someone or chuck an elbow in their face.—
James Parker,
The Atlantic,
16 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Mean-spiritedness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mean-spiritedness. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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