as in malicious
having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it
both parties to the divorce showed a malign desire to make each other's future life utterly miserable
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in to libel
to make untrue and harmful statements about
a candidate who believes that it is possible to win an election without maligning anyone
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of malign
Micah McCartney, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
The creature that possessed the unfortunate Ensign Gamble finds a way back from its permanent transporter buffer exile, and is able to exert a malign influence on a whole new generation of followers.
—Richard Edwards, Space.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 5 Dec. 2025
The run defense, which has been maligned despite some real strides recently, put forth an outstanding effort to allow only 55 yards with an average of fewer than four yards per carry.
—Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 1 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malign
Adjective
These moves are of a malign nature.
—Verb
Both films got maligned in press narratives, before anyone saw a frame, because of budgets and the fact that Sinners rights revert back to you, Ryan, far down the road.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for malign
Adjective
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The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices.—
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And at the heart of the series was the parasitic dynamic between Pine and his delightfully malicious foe, an arms dealer named Richard Onslow Roper (Hugh Laurie).—
Verb
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In 2022, Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff, who presided over both trials, decided The Times was not liable for defamation while jurors were deliberating, that the error amounted to unfortunate editorializing but not libel.—
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As a new, inexpensive Chevrolet appeared in 1927 and The Dearborn Independent was sued for libeling a number of Jewish businessmen, Ford threw in the towel and apologized.—
Adjective
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The forest had taught him that city dwellers could often be regulated by cruel and rather unpredictable codes.—
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That Maduro is a cruel dictator is clear; that Trump intends more than just his arrest (such as taking their oil) is equally clear.—
Verb
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Hadid appears beat up with a gash on her arm, dirt on her face, and smeared black eye makeup.—
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That would hardly seem out of place, especially given that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem smeared Good as a domestic terrorist.—
Adjective
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Officials charged Damon Leanord of Pleasanton, Kansas, with interference with law enforcement, having a vicious dog at large and criminal desecration of a body in Linn County and abandonment of a corpse charges in Bates County, Missouri, after finding the child’s body at the bottom of a creek bed.—
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He was shocked in 2013 when he was struck by vicious bouts of vomiting.—
Verb
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Newsom has manifested this weird love-hate relationship with oil, craving it in the short-term to keep California running while vilifying its manufacturers as the architects of our climate change crisis.—
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After all, why does the Right so especially vilify those who strike, boycott, and refuse?—
Adjective
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Thompson, meanwhile, savors every contemptuous glare and hateful retort Anna regularly supplies.—
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At best, both Labour and the Conservatives have spent political capital on an activist who has repeatedly expressed thoughtless and hateful views in public.—
Cite this Entry
“Malign.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malign. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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