malignity en · NOUN
Etymology
From Middle English malignete, malignitee, malignyte, malyngnite, from Middle French maligneté, from Latin malignitās. By surface analysis, malign + -ity. * (a group of goblins): Coined by David Malki in the 30 October 2009 Wondermark webcomic strip “Supernatural Collective Nouns”.
Meanings
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(countable, uncountable) The quality of being malign or malignant; badness, evilness, monstrosity, depravity, maliciousness.
He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he mediated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter.
1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, pages 251–252:His enjoyment of the spectacle I furnished, as he sat with his arms folded on the table, shaking his head at me and hugging himself, had a malignity in it that made me tremble.
1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter LIII, in Great Expectations […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC:On the door-threshold Mina turned, and her eyes fastened on Woona in concentrated malignity.
1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 265:
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(countable, uncountable) A non-benign cancer; a malignancy.
The absence of any histological sign of malignity in the primary tumor and in the metastases, as observed in our patient, is remarkable.
2005, R.L. Abada et al., “Multiple metastases of a mandibular ameloblastoma”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
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(collective, countable, neologism, uncountable) A group of goblins.
A malignity of goblins chattered loudly, some of them standing on their table.
2022, JT Lawrence, The Haunted Portal (Cursebreaker; 2), Muonic Press Inc, →ISBN:There was a whole malignity‡ of goblins up on the roof, but if you wanted your clacks to fly fast, you didn’t use the term out loud.
2013, Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam (Discworld; 40), London: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 31:As a malignity of goblins giggled drunkenly in a corner booth, Fabian and I approached the table with Isaac and Hakim.
2023, Nova Nelson, All the Faire’s a Stage (Magical Renaissance Faire Mysteries; 7), The Faire Ladies LLC, →ISBN:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| malignities | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Synonyms
misguilt · badness · perversion · puckishness · misdoing · baseness · perversion · impurity · roguery · peccability · pravity · pranksomeness · misconduct · impishness · degeneracy · devilment · depravity · mischievousness · depravation · naughtiness · hanky-panky · depravedness · wrong · scampishness · malignity · wickedness · degradation · deviltry · devilishness · goings-on · iniquity · sin · monkey business · vitiation · defilement · wrongdoing · rascality · devilry · depravity · misdemeanor · bad manners · pollution · misbehavior · wrongness · malice · baseness · disobedience · obliquity · corruption · delinquency · impropriety · mischief · prankishness · elfishness · lewdity · roguishness · turpitude · sinfulness