maleficent
- adjective
- /məˈlɛfɪsənt/
- Formal
- Therefore, the majority in the Humanitarian Law Project found that terrorist organizations typically lack the "firewalls" to prevent material support from sympathetic charitable organizations from being funneled into their maleficent activities.
- maleficent and sinful
Examples
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The witch cast a maleficent spell that caused misfortune to the village.
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So Caesar named one Herod the Great, an Arab of the Bedouin tribe... ...as the new, false, and maleficent king of the Jews.
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What the English trials focused on first and foremost was simple Maleficent acts.
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But now it sounded to me like the name of some maleficent and sinful being.
Academic text (1991) -
By means of a logical inconsistency, the boy now transforms the word into being, a "maleficent and sinful being," which frightens him but, at the same time, fascinates him: "I longed to be nearer to it and to look upon its deadly work" (D 9).
Academic text (1991) -
His maleficent plots led to the downfall of many innocent people.
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The villain in the story was portrayed as a maleficent figure determined to cause chaos.
Synonyms
Wanting to harm others
Something that tries to cause harm or trouble
Being harmful or evil to people and things
Causing harm to people, animals, or plants
Antonyms
How Harmful
- Specialized
- Formal
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word maleficent comes from the parts mal- meaning 'bad' and -ficent meaning 'to do', as in factory which makes things. So maleficent literally means 'doing bad', which is why it now means 'harmful' or 'evil'.