wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious.
His failures made him malevolent toward those who were successful.
evil; harmful; injurious.
a malevolent inclination to destroy the happiness of others.
Astrology. evil or malign in influence.
malevolent British / məˈlɛvələnt / adjectivewishing or appearing to wish evil to others; malicious
astrology hing an evil influence
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Other Word Forms malevolence noun malevolently adverb unmalevolent adjective unmalevolently adverb Etymology Origin of malevolentFirst recorded in 1500–10; from Latin malevolent-, stem of malevolēns “ill-disposed, spiteful,” from male- male- + volēns “wanting” (present participle of velle “to want, wish for, desire”; will 1 )
Example SentencesExamples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They found that when a phishing pop-up had clear malevolent telltales, like misspellings, the phone and PC users tended to oid it at similar rates.
From The Wall Street Journal
It’s like a malevolent Ouroboros, where we can’t tell which is the head and which the tail, or which end is swallowing the other.
From Salon
Despite its critics, nationalism isn’t always a malevolent force.
From The Wall Street Journal
His flights of fancy— malevolent music, undead scholars, imaginary brothers, a cult led by a guru with 93 Ferraris in an “experimental township” called the Moon — are more controlled and add subtle strokes of color.
From Los Angeles Times
One can only wonder at the malevolent pleasure he would he felt at his Cubist masterworks ending up at the Met and not at the Tate or MoMA, which he had disdained for decades.
From The Wall Street Journal
Related Words malicious malignant murderous sinister vengeful vicious wickedDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.