malignity

English

Etymology

From Middle French maligneté, from the Latin roots mal- ("bad") and -nitor ("strive"). Translated from the Ancient Greek word κακοήθεια (kakoḗtheia, “bad character, mischievous”).

Noun

malignity (countable and uncountable, plural malignities)

  1. The quality of being malign or malignant; badness, evilness, monstrosity, depravity, maliciousness.
    • 1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, Chapter 40:
      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.
  2. A non-benign cancer; a malignancy.
    • 2005, Jun;106(3):177-80 English abstract of French article "Multiple metastases of a mandibular ameloblastoma" R.L. Abada et al., "Multiple metastases of a mandibular ameloblastoma", Revue de stomatologie et de chirurgie maxillo-faciale
      The absence of any histological sign of malignity in the primary tumor and in the metastases, as observed in our patient, is remarkable.

References
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