Meanings
adjectivemalevolent (comparative more malevolent, superlative most malevolent)
comparative more malevolent · superlative most malevolent
- Having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others.
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”.
2022 October 27, Simon Parkin, “README.txt by Chelsea Manning review – secrets and spies”, in The Guardian, →ISSNSynonyms: maleficent, sinister, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful · Antonyms: benevolent
- Having an evil or harmful influence.
Vela, Javier Hernández and Lozano switched positions with a thrillingly malevolent sense of purpose.
2018 June 17, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Aug 2019
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others.
Similar
Opposite
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivewishing or appearing to wish evil to others; arising from intense ill will or hatred
Similar
adjectivehaving or exerting a malignant influence
Similar
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinmalevolentem
- Old Frenchmalivolent
- Middle English*malevolent
- Englishmalevolent
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”).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans kwaadwillig
- kwaadwillighaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Arabic حَاقِد, حَقُود
- حَاقِد (ḥāqid)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- حَقُود (ḥaqūd)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Bengali পরশ্রীকাতর
- পরশ্রীকাতর (porosrikator)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Bulgarian недоброжела́телен, зло́бен
- недоброжела́телен (nedobroželátelen)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- зло́бен (zlóben)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- зловре́ден (zlovréden)having an evil or harmful influence
Catalan malèvol
- malèvolhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Chinese Mandarin 惡毒的 /恶毒的
- 惡毒的 /恶毒的 (èdú de)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Czech zlovolný, zlomyslný
- zlovolnýhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- zlomyslnýhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- zlýhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Dutch kwaadwillend
- kwaadwillendhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Esperanto malbonavida, malbonintenca
- malbonavidahaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- malbonintencahaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- malicahaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Estonian pahatahtlik
- pahatahtlikhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Finnish pahansuopa, pahantahtoinen
- pahansuopahaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- pahantahtoinenhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- vahingollinenhaving an evil or harmful influence
French malintentionné, malveillant
- malintentionnéhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- malveillanthaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- malévolenthaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- maléfiquehaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- mauvaishaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- malveillanthaving an evil or harmful influence
- maléfiquehaving an evil or harmful influence
German böswillig
- böswillighaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Greek μοχθηρός, κακόβουλος
- μοχθηρός (mochthirós)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- κακόβουλος (kakóvoulos)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Hindi द्वेषी
- द्वेषी (dveṣī)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Indonesian berniat jahat
- berniat jahathaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Irish anchroíoch, anchroíoch
- anchroíochhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- anchroíochhaving an evil or harmful influence
Italian malintenzionato
- malintenzionatohaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Japanese 邪悪な, マレフィック
- 邪悪な (jaaku na)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- マレフィック (marefikku)having an evil or harmful influence
Korean 사악하다
- 사악하다 (saakhada)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Malay berniat jahat
- berniat jahathaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Māori kikokiko, ngākaukino
- kikokikohaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- ngākaukinohaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Norwegian Bokmål ondsinnet
- ondsinnethaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Persian بدکامه, بدخواه
- بدکامه (badkâme)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- بدخواه (badxâh)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Polish złowrogi, wrogi
- złowrogihaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- wrogihaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- wrogihaving an evil or harmful influence
- złowrogihaving an evil or harmful influence
Portuguese malevolente, malévolo
- malevolentehaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- malévolohaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- mal-intencionadohaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- malévolohaving an evil or harmful influence
Romanian rău intenționat
- rău intenționathaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Russian недоброжела́тельный, зло́бный
- недоброжела́тельный (nedobroželátelʹnyj)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- зло́бный (zlóbnyj)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- злонаме́ренный (zlonamérennyj)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- злора́дный (zlorádnyj)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- зловре́дный (zlovrédnyj)having an evil or harmful influence
Slovak zloprajný, zlovoľný
- zloprajnýhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- zlovoľnýhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Spanish malévolo, malintencionado
- malévolohaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- malintencionadohaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Swedish illvillig, illasinnad
- illvillighaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- illasinnadhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Thai ประสงค์ร้าย, มุ่งร้าย
- ประสงค์ร้าย (bprà-sǒng-ráai)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- มุ่งร้าย (mûng-ráai)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Turkish kötü amaçlı, kötü niyetli
- kötü amaçlıhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- kötü niyetlihaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- kötücülhaving or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Ukrainian зловмисний, зловтішний
- зловмисний (zlovmysnyj)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- зловтішний (zlovtišnyj)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- недобрози́чливий (nedobrozýčlyvyj)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
- нези́чливий (nezýčlyvyj)having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others
Cite this entry
APA
malevolent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malevolent
MLA
“malevolent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malevolent. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “malevolent,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malevolent.
Source: malevolent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.