malevolency
- noun
- /məˈlɛvələnsē/
:
malevolencia
- The villain's malevolency was clear from the sinister smile on his face.
Examples
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His malevolency was evident in the way he plotted against his colleagues.
-
She spoke with malevolency, wishing ill upon those who wronged her.
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The figure would have been used in benevolent or malevolent medicine practices (ughanga or ushai) to promote or counteract spirit or human malevolency.
Academic text (2004)
Synonyms
54
6.3
A wish to hurt someone or make them suffer
8
8.8
A feeling of wanting to harm other people
2
7.5
A wish to hurt or make other people suffer
1
8.4
A strong wish to harm others or make their lives worse
1
4.5
Wanting to hurt or make others suffer
1
9.3
An intention to harm someone or act for bad reasons
1
9.9
A strong wish to hurt or cause pain to other people
1
9.2
Very strong, hurtful words or actions toward someone
1
8.4
Very cruel and evil actions that harm people
A very harmful and cruel way of being that hurts other people
A look or feeling that seems threatening
Very strong, bitter speech or writing that tries to hurt someone
The act of doing harm or evil to others
Antonyms
How Malevolent
Surface Forms
Morphology
malevolency = malevolent (semi-transparent) = malevol + ency
The noun is a regular nominalization of the adjective 'malevolent' with the suffix '-ency', yielding 'the state or quality of being malevolent'.
Etymology
Malevolency comes from the Latin parts male meaning 'badly' and volent meaning 'to wish', the same root you see in benevolent ('wishing good'). So malevolency is like 'wishing bad' toward others, which is why it means a desire to cause harm.