What does malignant mean?

Definitions for malignant
məˈlɪg nəntma·lig·nant

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word malignant.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. malignantadjective

    dangerous to health; characterized by progressive and uncontrolled growth (especially of a tumor)

Wiktionary

  1. malignantadjective

    Harmful, malevolent, injurious.

  2. malignantadjective

    Harmfully cancerous; as a malignant tumor.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Malignantadjective

    Etymology: malignant, French.

    O malignant and ill-boading stars!
    Now art thou come unto a feast of death. William Shakespeare.

    Not friended by his wish to your high person,
    His will is most malignant, and it stretches
    Beyond you to your friends. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

    To good malignant, to bad men benign. John Milton.

    They have seen all other notions besides their own represented in a false and malignant light; whereupon they judge and condemn at once. Isaac Watts, Improvement of the Mind.

    They hold, that the cause of the gout, is a malignant vapour that falls upon the joint; that the swelling is a kindness in nature, that calls down humours to damp the malignity of the vapours, and thereby assuage the sharpness of the pain. William Temple, Miscel.

    Let the learn’d begin
    Th’ enquiry, where disease could enter in;
    How those malignant atoms forc’d their way,
    What in the faultless frame they found to make their prey? John Dryden, to the duchess of Ormond.

  2. Malignantnoun

    Occasion was taken, by certain malignants, secretly to undermine his great authority in the church of Christ. Richard Hooker.

Wikipedia

  1. Malignant

    Malignancy (from Latin male 'badly', and -gnus 'born') is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A malignant tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous benign tumor in that a malignancy is not self-limited in its growth, is capable of invading into adjacent tissues, and may be capable of spreading to distant tissues. A benign tumor has none of those properties. Malignancy in cancers is characterized by anaplasia, invasiveness, and metastasis. Malignant tumors are also characterized by genome instability, so that cancers, as assessed by whole genome sequencing, frequently have between 10,000 and 100,000 mutations in their entire genomes. Cancers usually show tumour heterogeneity, containing multiple subclones. They also frequently have reduced expression of DNA repair enzymes due to epigenetic methylation of DNA repair genes or altered microRNAs that control DNA repair gene expression. Tumours can be detected through the visualisation or sensation of a lump on the body. In cases where there is no obvious representation of a lump, a mammogram or an MRI test can be used to determine the presence of a tumour. In the case of an existing tumour, a biopsy would be then required to make a diagnosis as this detects if the tumour is malignant or benign. This involves examination of a small sample of the tissue in a laboratory. If detected as a malignant tumour, treatment would be necessary. Treatment during early stages is most effective. Forms of treatment include chemotherapy, surgery, photoradiation and hyperthermia, amongst various others.

ChatGPT

  1. malignant

    Malignant generally refers to a condition that is very dangerous or harmful in influence or effect. In medicine, it is often used to describe a severe disease or tumor that's resistant to treatment, spreads to other parts of the body, and could potentially result in death. It is the opposite of benign, which is used to describe conditions that are not harmful in effect.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Malignantadjective

    disposed to do harm, inflict suffering, or cause distress; actuated by extreme malevolence or enmity; virulently inimical; bent on evil; malicious

  2. Malignantadjective

    characterized or caused by evil intentions; pernicious

  3. Malignantadjective

    tending to produce death; threatening a fatal issue; virulent; as, malignant diphtheria

  4. Malignantnoun

    a man of extrems enmity or evil intentions

  5. Malignantnoun

    one of the adherents of Charles L. or Charles LL.; -- so called by the opposite party

  6. Etymology: [L. malignans, -antis, p. pr. of malignare, malignari, to do or make maliciously. See Malign, and cf. Benignant.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Malignant

    ma-lig′nant, adj. disposed to do harm or to cause suffering: malign: acting maliciously: actuated by great hatred: tending to cause death.—n. a name applied by the Puritan party to one who had fought for Charles I. in the Civil War.—n. Malig′nancy, Malig′nance, state or quality of being malignant.—adv. Malig′nantly. [L. malignans, pr.p. of malignāre, to act maliciously.]

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. malignant

    In English history, one of the adherents of the house of Stuart; a cavalier; so called by the opposite party.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of malignant in Chaldean Numerology is: 9

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of malignant in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of malignant in a Sentence

  1. Barbra Streisand:

    The moral immune system of this country has been weakened and attacked, and the AIDS virus is the perfect metaphor for it. The malignant neglect of the last twelve years has led to breakdown of our country's immune system, environmentally, culturally, politically, spiritually and physically.

  2. Sean Hannity:

    Tonight, at least one thing has become very clear – the Biden administration does not plan to hold China responsible for anything, patience for China, but not the Keystone pipeline. Clearing a relationship with the malignant regime – the hostile regime that they are – that infected the world with Covid-19 – is more important to Biden.

  3. Dan Cantor:

    President Trump signed President Trump second attempt at a Muslim Ban this morning, behind closed doors, admitting that President Trump first order was completely indefensible, the same goes for this one. We call on all elected officials to use every tool in their arsenal to stop this misguided and malignant executive order.

  4. Lion Shahab:

    While mobile phone usage in the population increased from less than 15 % to 95 % over the time period studied, we do not see the same increase in malignant brain tumors. This suggests that the strength of any effect, if present, would have to be small, for now, linking a rise in malignant brain tumors to mobile phone usage remains speculative and should not detract from encouraging lifestyle changes which are known to reduce cancer risk, such as adopting a healthy diet, reducing alcohol consumption and stopping smoking.

  5. Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan:

    The region is subject to the same threats as the globe is and that is there is a malignant organization that has established itself in the Middle East, ISIL, and they continue to export terror around the globe.

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Translations for malignant

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"malignant." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 20 Mar. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/malignant>.

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