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Malice: alternatives and connections

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Malice

Enmity of heart; malevolence; ill will; a spirit delighting in harm or misfortune to another; a disposition to injure another; a malignant design of evil.

58 useful connections shown 16 reviewed relationships and 42 broader connections.
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Reviewed alternatives and contrasts

These links were deliberately created. Use the interchangeability score and guidance to judge whether a word will work in your sentence.

Narrower term 7

Beastliness 76% connected

The state or quality of being beastly.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a narrower or more specific lexical category.

Cruelness 76% connected

Cruelty.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a narrower or more specific lexical category.

Cruelty 76% connected

The attribute or quality of being cruel; a disposition to give unnecessary pain or suffering to others; inhumanity; barbarity.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a narrower or more specific lexical category.

Harshness 76% connected

The quality or state of being harsh.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a narrower or more specific lexical category.

Meanness 76% connected

The condition, or quality, of being mean; want of excellence; poorness; lowness; baseness; sordidness; stinginess.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a narrower or more specific lexical category.

Nastiness 76% connected

The quality or state of being nasty; extreme filthness; dirtiness; also, indecency; obscenity.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a narrower or more specific lexical category.

Spite 76% connected

Ill-will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; petty malice; grudge; rancor; despite.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a narrower or more specific lexical category.

Broader term 4

Evil 76% connected

Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious…

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a broader lexical category for at least one sense.

Evilness 76% connected

The condition or quality of being evil; badness; viciousness; malignity; vileness; as, evilness of heart; the evilness of sin.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a broader lexical category for at least one sense.

Malevolence 76% connected

The quality or state of being malevolent; evil disposition toward another; inclination to injure others; ill will. See Synonym of Malice.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a broader lexical category for at least one sense.

Malignity 76% connected

The state or quality of being malignant; disposition to do evil; virulent enmity; malignancy; malice; spite.

oewn 2023 0% interchangeable

Open English WordNet identifies the related term as a broader lexical category for at least one sense.

Derivationally related 2

Malicious 74% connected

Indulging or exercising malice; harboring ill will or enmity.

oewn 2023 15% interchangeable

Open English WordNet records a derivational relationship between these word forms.

Malicious 74% connected

Indulging or exercising malice; harboring ill will or enmity.

oewn 2023 15% interchangeable

Open English WordNet records a derivational relationship between these word forms.

Synonym 3

Malevolence 92% connected

The quality or state of being malevolent; evil disposition toward another; inclination to injure others; ill will. See Synonym of Malice.

oewn 2023 68% interchangeable

Open English WordNet places these words in at least one shared synset. They share a lexicalised sense, but context, register and collocation should still be checked before substitution.

Spite 92% connected

Ill-will or hatred toward another, accompanied with the disposition to irritate, annoy, or thwart; petty malice; grudge; rancor; despite.

oewn 2023 68% interchangeable

Open English WordNet places these words in at least one shared synset. They share a lexicalised sense, but context, register and collocation should still be checked before substitution.

Venom 92% connected

Matter fatal or injurious to life; poison; particularly, the poisonous, the poisonous matter which certain animals, such as serpents, scorpions, bees…

oewn 2023 68% interchangeable

Open English WordNet places these words in at least one shared synset. They share a lexicalised sense, but context, register and collocation should still be checked before substitution.

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Words connected by meaning

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