Malignity

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being profoundly harmful, evil, or hostile in nature and destructive in consequence
2. A condition of extreme wickedness, spitefulness, or dangerous malevolence that causes serious harm
3. A deep-seated wish to cause harm or ill will ; the characteristic of being harmful or injurious in effect

Etymology: Malignity comes from Latin "malignitas," a noun built from "malignus," meaning ill-disposed or spiteful, which itself combines "malus" (bad) with a root related to "genus" (kind or nature). The Latin sense was about a bad or ill-natured disposition, and the word carried that moral flavour into Middle French as "maligneté" before English borrowed it from there in the Middle English period, when it could describe both a person's wicked character and a harmful quality in things. The English noun is formed on the adjective "malign," which came into the language earlier and was used of people who wished harm on others. The ending "-ity" is the familiar suffix that turns an adjective into an abstract noun, so "malign" plus "-ity" yields the idea of having the quality of being malign. Many English nouns ending in "-ity" were built this way from Latin roots, which is why the word sounds more technical than its everyday relatives.

Synonyms: malice, malevolence, spite, hostility, wickedness

Antonyms: benevolence, goodwill, kindness, friendliness, compassion