malignant

English

Etymology

From Middle French malignant, from Late Latin malignans. See malign.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈlɪɡnənt/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

malignant (comparative more malignant, superlative most malignant)

1. Harmful, malevolent, injurious.

   malignant temper;  malignant revenge;  malignant infection

   • 1863 August 26, Abraham Lincoln, Letter to James Conkling‎^[1], page 7:

     […] while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it.

2. (medicine) Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal issue.

   Antonyms: benign, non-malignant

   malignant diphtheria

   a malignant tumor

   • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎^[2]:

     “[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes […] . And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases. […]”

Derived terms

• bovine malignant catarrhal fever
• malignant catarrhal fever
• malignant edema
• malignantly
• neuroleptic malignant syndrome
• non-malignant
• nonmalignant
• premalignant
• promalignant
• unmalignant

 

Related terms

• malign

Translations

harmful, malevolent, injurious

• Basque: gaizto (eu)
• Bulgarian: зловреден (bg) (zlovreden)
• Catalan: maligne (ca)
• Dutch: kwaadaardig (nl)
• Finnish: pahantahtoinen (fi), vahingollinen (fi)
• French: malin (fr), malveillant (fr)
• German: bösartig (de)
• Greek: κακοήθης (el) m or f (kakoḯthis)

  Ancient Greek: κακοήθης (kakoḗthēs)

• Hungarian: rosszindulatú (hu)
• Indonesian: berbahaya (id)
• Irish: aingí
• Italian: maligno (it), malevolo (it)
• Japanese: 潑 (ja) (はつ, hatsu)
• Macedonian: зло́ќуден (zlóḱuden)
• Plautdietsch: fientlich
• Polish: szkodliwy (pl) m
• Portuguese: maligno (pt)
• Russian: зловре́дный (ru) (zlovrédnyj), болезнетво́рный (ru) (boleznetvórnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: малѝга̄н, зло̀ћудан

  Roman: màlīgan (sh), zlòćudan

• Spanish: maligno (es)
• Turkish: zararlı (tr), kötü (tr)
• Ukrainian: злий (uk) m (zlyj), злі́бний m (zlíbnyj), шкідли́вий m (škidlývyj)

(medicine) tending to produce death

• Armenian: չարորակ (hy) (čʻarorak)
• Basque: gaizto (eu)
• Bulgarian: злокачествен (bg) (zlokačestven)
• Catalan: maligne (ca)
• Czech: zhoubný (cs) m, maligní (cs)
• Dutch: kwaadaardig (nl)
• Finnish: pahanlaatuinen (fi)
• French: malin (fr)
• German: bösartig (de), malign
• Greek: κακοήθης (el) m or f (kakoḯthis)

  Ancient Greek: κακοήθης (kakoḗthēs)

• Hungarian: rosszindulatú (hu)
• Irish: ainciseach, urchóideach
• Italian: maligno (it)
• Macedonian: злока́чествен (zlokáčestven)
• Maori: orotā
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ondartet, malign

  Nynorsk: vondarta, malign

• Persian: بدخیم (fa) (bad-xim)
• Polish: złośliwy (pl) m
• Portuguese: maligno (pt)
• Russian: злока́чественный (ru) (zlokáčestvennyj)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: малѝга̄н, зло̀ћудан

  Roman: màlīgan (sh), zlòćudan

• Spanish: maligno (es)
• Swedish: malign (sv), elakartad (sv)
• Turkish: kötü huylu (tr), habis (tr)
• Ukrainian: злоя́кісний (zlojákisnyj)

Noun

malignant (plural malignants)

1. A deviant; a person who is hostile or destructive to society.
   • 1823, The Retrospective Review, volume 7, page 11:

     As devout Stephen was carried to his burial by devout men, so is it just and equal that malignants should carry malignants […]

   • 1999, National Institute of Business Management, Difficult People at Work, →ISBN, page 8:

     A malignant in a position of real power immediately becomes a tyrant.

2. (historical, derogatory, obsolete) A person who fought for Charles I in the English Civil War.

Latin

Verb

malignant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of malignō