malevolence

/məˈlɛvələns/

Other forms: malevolences

Malevolence is a nasty, wicked, evil quality. When you're full of malevolence, you wish harm on others.

Translated from the Latin, malevolence means to wish for bad things — to have ill will. What sets malevolence apart from other kinds of hatefulness is that it implies a deliberate wish for evil. A small child might be mean out of anger or spite, but probably not out of malevolence. Malevolence requires more thought: it's a deeper, more profound kind of badness often associated with devils and villains.

Definitions of malevolence

1. noun

   wishing evil to others
   synonyms: malignity

   antonyms:

   benevolence

   disposition to do good

   types:

   maleficence

   doing or causing evil

   malice, maliciousness, spite, spitefulness, venom

   feeling a need to see others suffer

   vengefulness, vindictiveness

   a malevolent desire for revenge

   type of:

   hate, hatred

   the emotion of intense dislike; a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action
2. noun

   the quality of threatening evil
   synonyms: malevolency, malice

   types:

   bitchiness, cattiness, nastiness, spite, spitefulness

   malevolence by virtue of being malicious or spiteful or nasty

   cruelness, cruelty, harshness

   the quality of being cruel and causing tension or annoyance

   beastliness, meanness

   the quality of being deliberately mean

   brutality, ferociousness, savagery, viciousness

   the trait of extreme cruelty

   murderousness

   cruelty evidence by a capability to commit murder

   type of:

   evil, evilness

   the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice