malign

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“
Of Spirits malign, a better race to bring

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. transitive verb To make evil, harmful, and often untrue statements about; speak evil of.
  2. adjective Evil in disposition, nature, or intent.
  3. adjective Evil in influence; injurious.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • A multi-faceted media campaign is underway to malign, and demoralize the nation, and dehumanize sections of the Pakistani population. —  Bloggers.Pakistan
  • 'The remark that Jaya made at the music release function of' Drona 'last week was not meant to malign or hurt anybody or any group of people. —  India eNews
  • Hey 'Bob Gervitz from United States', perusing this thread (as with any 'discussion' of human-caused global warming in the Globe) demonstrates that the 'stupid people' you malign are the majority, and they are NOT stupid, they are merely very Canadian, very human - meaning they are weak minded and unwilling to take responsibility for their actions. —  The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed
  • I have watched you ridicule, malign, rant and show as much —  StarTribune.com rss feed
  • '' 'In their attempts to malign, marginalize, and attack [[Rush Limbaugh]], the hapless —  Conservapedia - Recent changes [en]
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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malign:   maligned
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English malignen, to attack, from Old French malignier, from Late Latin malignārī, from Latin malignus, malign; see genə- in Indo-European roots. Adj., from Middle English, from Old French, from Latin malignus.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Old French maling, French malin, feminine maligne = Provencal maligns = Spanish Portuguese Italian maligno, from Latin malignus, of an evil nature, orig. *maligenus, from malus, bad, evil, + -genus, -born: see-genous. Cf. benign.
  2. from Old French malignier, maliner, pervert, deceive, F. dial, maligner, malign, from maling, French malin, malign: see malign, adjective
 

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/məˈlaɪn/
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