Meanings
plural malignancies
- countableuncountableThe state of being malignant or diseased.
- countableuncountableThat which is malign; evil, depravity, malevolence.
[T]he malignancie of my fate, might perhaps diſtemper yours; […]
c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 260, column 12 more examples
A cold wind swept down from it and set us shivering. Somewhere there, on that desolate plain, was lurking this fiendish man, hiding in a burrow like a wild beast, his heart full of malignancy against the whole race which had cast him out.
1901 August – 1902 April, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “Baskerville Hall”, in The Hound of the Baskervilles: Another Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, London: George Newnes, […], published 1902, →OCLC, page 115Because of the dearth of recent feminist writing about conditions in mental institutions, it's possible for us to image that they must have improved since the mid-'70s. Millett reminds us forcefully of the hellishness and malignancy of these places, where mind-altering drugs are prescribed punitively or at random, attendants are abusive, food is unhealthy, and numbing boredom, ugliness, pain and filth prevail.
1990 August 31, Amy Hoffman, “"Crazy" Or Just Crazy?”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 7, page 11
Synonyms & antonyms
noun(medicine) a malignant state; progressive and resistant to treatment and tending to cause death
nounquality of being disposed to evil; intense ill will
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinmalignantia
- Englishmalignancy
From malignant + -cy or malign + -ancy or Latin malignantia.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian зловредност, злокачественост
- зловредност (zlovrednost)state of being malignant
- злокачественост (zlokačestvenost)malignant cancer
- злоба (zloba)that which is malign, evil, malevolence
Chinese Mandarin 惡性狀態 /恶性状态, 惡性腫瘤 /恶性肿瘤
- 惡性狀態 /恶性状态 (èxìng zhuàngtài)state of being malignant
- 惡性腫瘤 /恶性肿瘤 (èxìng zhǒngliú)malignant cancer
- 邪惡 /邪恶 (xié'è)that which is malign, evil, malevolence
Czech zhoubnost, malignita
- zhoubnoststate of being malignant
- malignitastate of being malignant
- zhoubné bujenímalignant cancer
Esperanto maligneco
- malignecostate of being malignant
Finnish pahanlaatuisuus, pahanlaatuinen kasvain
- pahanlaatuisuusstate of being malignant
- pahanlaatuinen kasvainmalignant cancer
- pahanlaatuisuusthat which is malign, evil, malevolence
French malignité, malignité
- malignitéstate of being malignant
- malignitémalignant cancer
- malignitéthat which is malign, evil, malevolence
Irish urchóideacht, aincis
- urchóideachtstate of being malignant
- aincisstate of being malignant
- urchóidmalignant cancer
- urchóideachtmalignant cancer
- urchóidthat which is malign, evil, malevolence
Cite this entry
malignancy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malignancy
“malignancy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malignancy. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “malignancy,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malignancy.
Source: malignancy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.