How to Use malevolence in a Sentence

malevolence

noun
  • Moreover, there are hints of malevolence at an even grander scale.
    — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2025
  • Ayosa wants to go and do, but tragedy and other people’s malevolence stalk her.
    — Nanjala Nyabola, Vogue, 26 Apr. 2022
  • As with most forms of human malevolence, there is nothing new under the sun.
    — Laura Hudson, The Verge, 10 Aug. 2018
  • Much has been written about Smith’s malevolence, but little of it is here.
    — Washington Post, 16 July 2021
  • Behind his long absences is a tragedy that, for the actor but not his wife, is tinged with malevolence.
    — Yvonne Zipp, The Christian Science Monitor, 30 May 2017
  • His truest moment of malevolence is reserved for a waitress who brings him an overcooked steak.
    — Stephen Rodrick, Variety, 17 July 2023
  • There’s a kind of malevolence that looms large precisely because its purview is so paltry.
    — New York Times, 28 June 2022
  • His career as a vessel of Nazi malevolence begins in the late thirties.
    — Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 2 Sep. 2023
  • Butler taps a vein of garish and almost comic malevolence that keeps flowing.
    — Dwight Garner, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2024
  • Flashbacks spanning decades apprise us of the voracious malevolence that has plagued the house.
    — Tom Nolan, WSJ, 28 Oct. 2022
  • Some saw a teenager trying to work through a dark period in his life, while others saw a growing malevolence.
    — Mark Berman and Matt Zapotosky, Houston Chronicle, 16 Feb. 2018
  • Or the Miami pigeons with sheer malevolence in their thieving eyes?
    — Colm Tóibín, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Feb. 2022
  • Indeed, malevolence closes in on Ayosa the way that the world closes in on most girls around puberty.
    — Nanjala Nyabola, Vogue, 26 Apr. 2022
  • Some of my other favorites have been the Malevolence and its ion weapon, the darksaber and the commando droids.
    — Jason B. Jones, WIRED, 16 Apr. 2010
  • On top of that, what if the moon was actually home to a living creature of unknown power and malevolence?
    — Christian Holub, EW.com, 6 Jan. 2022
  • Trying to find charm and not having malevolence as the intention, not trying to be evil, let the brilliant writing do that.
    — David Canfield, HollywoodReporter, 13 May 2026
  • In an attack of special malevolence, one of the bombs detonated outside an ice cream parlor.
    — Peter Bergen, CNN, 31 May 2017
  • In some ways, legal experts said, the imagery of civilians shot at close range conveys a more personal malevolence.
    — New York Times, 5 Apr. 2022
  • These two men are just incompetent fools, leavened with a large helping of malevolence in Cuomo's case.
    — Ryan Cooper, TheWeek, 22 May 2020
  • Every way something rolled back is reinstated is a sign that nothing, not even malevolence, is forever.
    — Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
  • Fonda arrived in Rome with his blue eyes darkened by contact lenses, the better to convey malevolence.
    — Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2025
  • That political malevolence is the danger sign for places like Grays Harbor.
    — Danny Westneat, The Seattle Times, 9 June 2017
  • If sunshine is a metaphor for truth and freedom, then Kelly represents the cool, dark malevolence of whitemannery.
    — Michael Harriot, The Root, 8 Feb. 2018
  • These characters all possess a sense of malevolence and danger that sets them apart from the more comedic or comically evil villains that the studio is known for.
    — James Barrett, Country Living, 23 Jan. 2023
  • There may not be tanks in the streets and the administration`s malevolence may be constrained by now by its incompetence, but make no mistake, our democracy is in crisis.
    — James Freeman, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2018
  • After all, despite Mark’s air of malevolence, the specifics of his conflict with Lily are never really fleshed out.
    — David Sims, The Atlantic, 9 Mar. 2018
  • Jesse was the closest thing to a conscience Walt had; once their partnership dissolved, Walt’s malevolence only grew.
    — Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 9 Aug. 2022
  • His lust is gluttony, and Return of the Jedi is weird enough to score his slothful malevolence to a musical number.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 6 Nov. 2019
  • There is one more way the United States can help stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions—and the rest of the regime’s malevolence.
    — Suzanne Maloney, Foreign Affairs, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Yes, there is a lot to mock in the Proud Boys playbook, but the bro-ish-ness of its branding actually helps to disguise its true malevolence.
    — Courtney Shea, refinery29.com, 8 Jan. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'malevolence.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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