Etymology
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From Middle English *malevolent (suggested by Middle English malevolence ), from Old French malivolent and Latin malevolentem , from male ( “ badly, wrongly ” ) + volens ( “ willing, wishing ” ) , from velle ( “ to wish ” ) .
Pronunciation
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IPA (key ) : /məˈlɛvələnt/
Audio (Southern England) (file )
Adjective
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malevolent (comparative more malevolent , superlative most malevolent )
Having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others.
2022 October 27, Simon Parkin, “README.txt by Chelsea Manning review – secrets and spies”, in The Guardian [1] , →ISSN :In Iraq the bullying continued. After she witnessed the death of a colleague, Manning felt how “with enough grief, adrenaline and fear”, war can turn anyone “amoral, even malevolent ”.
Having an evil or harmful influence .
2018 June 17, Barney Ronay , “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner , editor, The Guardian [2] , London: Guardian News & Media , →ISSN , →OCLC , archived from the original on 5 August 2019 :Vela, Javier Hernández and Lozano switched positions with a thrillingly malevolent sense of purpose.
Synonyms
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Antonyms
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Derived terms
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Related terms
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Translations
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having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Afrikaans: kwaadwillig (af)
Arabic: حَاقِد ( ḥāqid ) , حَقُود ( ḥaqūd )
Hijazi Arabic: حاقد ( ḥāgid ) , حَقُود ( ḥagūd )
Armenian: չարամիտ (hy) ( čʻaramit )
Azerbaijani: pisniyyətli , pis məqsədli , pisfikirli , qərəzli
Belarusian: нядобразы́члівы ( njadobrazýčlivy ) , нязы́члівы ( njazýčlivy )
Bengali: পরশ্রীকাতর (bn) ( porosrikator )
Bulgarian: недоброжела́телен (bg) ( nedobroželátelen ) , зло́бен (bg) ( zlóben )
Catalan: malèvol (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 惡毒的 / 恶毒的 (zh) ( èdú de )
Czech: zlovolný , zlomyslný (cs) , zlý (cs)
Dutch: kwaadwillend (nl)
Esperanto: malbonavida , malbonintenca , malica
Estonian: pahatahtlik
Finnish: pahansuopa (fi) , pahantahtoinen (fi)
French: malintentionné (fr) , malveillant (fr) , malévolent (fr) ( rare )
Galician: malévolo
German: böswillig (de)
Greek: μοχθηρός (el) ( mochthirós )
Indonesian: berniat jahat
Irish: anchroíoch
Italian: malintenzionato (it)
Japanese: 邪悪な (ja) ( じゃあくな, jaaku na )
Korean: 사악하다 (ko) ( saakhada )
Macedonian: злонамерен ( zlonameren )
Malay: berniat jahat
Malayalam: കുനിഷ്ഠൻ (ml) m ( kuniṣṭhaṉ )
Maori: kikokiko , ngākaukino
Norman: dêvoulu
Old English: yfelwillende
Persian: بدکامه ( badkâme ) , بدخواه (fa) ( badxâh )
Polish: złowrogi (pl) , wrogi (pl)
Portuguese: malevolente (pt) , malévolo (pt) , mal-intencionado (pt)
Romanian: rău intenționat
Russian: недоброжела́тельный (ru) ( nedobroželátelʹnyj ) , зло́бный (ru) ( zlóbnyj ) , злонаме́ренный (ru) ( zlonamérennyj ) ( of intentions ) , злора́дный (ru) ( zlorádnyj ) ( spiteful, gloating )
Slovak: zloprajný , zlovoľný
Spanish: malévolo (es) , malintencionado (es)
Swedish: illvillig (sv) , illasinnad (sv)
Turkish: kötü amaçlı , kötü niyetli , kötücül (tr)
Ukrainian: зловмисний m ( zlovmysnyj ) , зловтішний m ( zlovtišnyj ) , недобрози́чливий ( nedobrozýčlyvyj ) , нези́чливий ( nezýčlyvyj )
having an evil or harmful influence