malevolent

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /məˈlɛvələnt/ UK /məˈlɛvələnt/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
wishing harm or evil to others; full of ill will

A malevolent grin crossed the villain's face as the trap sprang shut.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · wishing harm or evil to... malicious spiteful malign hostile venomous baleful vindictive

Opposites

benevolent kind benignwell-meaning

Word family

Derived forms malevolentlymalevolence

Related forms benevolent malice malign

Etymology

From Latin malevolens (stem malevolent-) ('wishing evil'), from male ('badly') + volens ('wishing'), present participle of velle ('to wish, want').

malevolens Latin male Middle English velle Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

# malevolent

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** məˈlɛvələnt
**IPA (UK):** məˈlɛvələnt

## Meanings
1. wishing harm or evil to others; full of ill will

## Examples
- A malevolent grin crossed the villain's face as the trap sprang shut.

## Synonyms
- malicious
- spiteful
- malign
- hostile
- venomous
- baleful
- vindictive

## Antonyms
- benevolent
- kind
- benign
- well-meaning

## Derived Forms
- malevolently
- malevolence

## Related Forms
- benevolent
- malice
- malign

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: malevolens
- Root: male
- Root: velle

## Etymology
From Latin malevolens (stem malevolent-) ('wishing evil'), from male ('badly') + volens ('wishing'), present participle of velle ('to wish, want').

## AI Etymology
Malevolent comes from Latin malevolens (stem malevolent-) ('wishing evil'), from male ('badly') + volens ('wishing'), present participle of velle ('to wish, want'). The etymological trail includes Latin malevolens, Latin male, Latin velle. The same word family includes malevolently, malevolence, benevolent, malice, malign. Its current adjective use means "wishing harm or evil to others; full of ill will".

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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malevolent

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