Benign and Malignant

Opposite meaning words

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Benign adjective – Not causing or being capable of causing injury or hurt.

Usage example: around campus he's known as a real character, but one whose eccentricities are entirely benign

Malignant is an antonym for benign in topics: harmless, advantageous, kindly, mild, not cancerous.

Nearby Words: benignant, benignly, benignity

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Malignant adjective – Having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it.

Usage example: a malignant wish to lash out at everyone who was smarter, richer, or better-looking than he was

Benign is an antonym for malignant in topics: hostile, diseased.

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character	benign character	malignant character
force	benign force	malignant force
entity	benign entity	malignant entity
creature	benign creature	malignant creature
Other nouns: god, form, example, personality, version, tumor, spirits, entities, tumors, ghosts.

True examples of purely malignant or benign groups are very thin on the ground.

Source: Tabletop Game / Unknown Armies
Black Sheep: Siberian gnomes are often less benign than most others, and occasionally, like one in one of the Legends, malignant towards humans.

Source: Literature / Gnomes

Cite this Source

Malignant and Benign. (2016). Retrieved 2021, January 26, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/benign/malignant

Benign & Malignant. N.p., 2016. Web. 26 Jan. 2021. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/benign/malignant>.

Malignant or Benign. 2016. Accessed January 26, 2021. https://thesaurus.plus/related/benign/malignant.

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Google Ngram Viewer shows how "benign" and "malignant" have occurred on timeline: