ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsMmalevolent
ISEE/SSAThard
malevolent
Meaning: having a desire to cause harm to others
malevolent in a sentence
How malevolent is used in real sentences:
The story's malevolent villain plotted to flood the entire village.
Behind his polite smile, the new manager harbored a malevolent plan to push out anyone who questioned his authority.
“During an external review, a sponsor's harangue about wasted funds continued for twenty heated minutes before he suggested that a malevolent programmer had corrupted the files.”
— from the passage Signals After Midnight
Synonyms for malevolent
Other words for malevolent — malicious, spiteful and vicious — carry the same meaning.
- malicious
- spiteful
- vicious
Antonyms of malevolent
Words that mean the opposite of malevolent:
- benevolent
- kind
Where it comes from
From Latin male 'badly' + velle 'to wish'
Word parts
- mal — bad, evil
malevolent: mal (bad) + vol (wish, from velle) - vol — wish; will
malevolent: male (badly) + vol (wish) + -ent (being)
Memory hook
MAL (bad) + VOLENT (wishing) — wishing bad things on others.
Practice malevolent in the app