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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MALIGN

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pronounce MALIGN:

muh LINE

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connect this word to others:

Our word malign is very closely related to malign___, meaning "evil or cancerous." Could you recall that one?

And, malign is close synonyms with bad-mouth, tarnish, besmirch, traduce, vituperate, vil___ ("to use harsh words to talk about how vile people are"), and disp___ge ("to talk about people as if they're less valuable or less worthy than they actually are"). Can you recall those last two synonyms?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

definition:

In Latin, male means "bad" and malignus means "born bad: bad-natured, wicked, evil."

These entered English centuries ago as "malign," which first meant "bad, evil, wicked"—and still does—and now also means "to speak about someone in a bad or evil way."

In other words, something malign is likely to cause harm to people on purpose.

And, if you malign things or people, you talk bad about them, as if they're evil.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Often a verb, the transitive kind: "They maligned her;" "They maligned him as a heartless money-grubber."

And often an adjective: "a malign influence," "this malign power."

Other forms: 

The other verb forms are "maligned" and "maligning."

And some common hyphenated adjectives are "often-maligned" and "much-maligned," as in "Landfills are teeming with those much-maligned AOL discs."

In case you're wondering what the difference is between the adjectives "malign" and "malignant," as best I can tell, "malign" carries a slightly more formal and more old-fashioned tone than "malignant." 

how to use it:

"Malign" is a harsh, common, formal word.

Pick it when you want to point out how evil or harmful something is: "He hunched over his desk and steepled his fingers, like he was hatching some malign plot."

Or, pick it when you want to point out how unfair it is when someone talks about people or things as if they're evil or harmful: "This interview is all lies; she's just trying to malign her opponent."

That's how we most often use the verb: we say that people malign other people. But we can also say that people malign someone's reputation or good name, or that people malign others as something bad ("They maligned him as a hands-off father") or malign others for doing something bad ("They maligned him for acting like he was doing his wife a favor by babysitting his own kids"). 

"Malign" is a very serious word. As such, it's perfect for humor and sarcasm. See the dialogue below from John Green!

examples:

"This brought to mind the woods in the Wizard of Oz, where the trees have ugly faces and malign intent."
— Bill Bryson, A Walk in the Woods, 1997

     "'You need to learn the value of not watching that awful Judge Judy, for starters.'
     'What a [jerk] ... It's one thing to accuse me of laziness. But to malign the good name of America's greatest television judge—that's below the belt.'"
— John Green, An Abundance of Katherines, 2006

has this page helped you understand "malign"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain both meanings of "malign" without saying "nefarious" or "to talk trash about someone."

try it out:

You may have to flash back to your high school English class for this one! Recall that sentences in "the passive voice" look like this: "This banana was eaten;" "The winner was chosen;" and "The case was closed." Their active-voice counterparts would be "Someone ate this banana;" "Someone chose the winner;" and "Someone closed the case."

In a discussion of grammar and style, Steven Pinker said that the passive voice is "unfairly maligned."

It's true that English teachers often malign the passive voice. "Don't use it. It's lazy. It's awkward. It's weak. It's bad."

Pinker argued, though, that it's just as useful to be able to write in the passive voice (for example, to write "Laius was killed by Oedipus"), as it is to write in the active voice ("Oedipus killed Laius"). It lets you express ideas more flexibly, controlling your emphasis.

With the passive voice in mind as an example, talk about something (or someone) else that you think is unfairly maligned. Who's maligning it? Why should they quit maligning it?




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "That’s What They Said."

Consider a quote from The Office, and decide which of three given terms you can most easily connect it to. You can see my suggested answer by scrolling to the bottom of the issue. But yours doesn’t need to match mine. 

For example, if I give you this:

Kelly: "I talk a lot, so I've learned to just tune myself out." Abstemious, garrulous, or ominous?

Then you might answer, "Garrulous, because Kelly talks on and on."

Try this one today:

Stanley: "If I don't have some cake soon, I might die." Hyperbolic, hypertrophy, or hyperscrutinize?

review this word:

1. The opposite of MALIGN, the verb, is

A. SING.
B. PRAISE.
C. OBSERVE.

2. Bess Rattray published an article in Salon titled "Everybody _____ Americans: My life abroad as the maligned Other."

A. knows
B. loves
C. hates




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. C

Suggested answer to the game question:

I'd go with hyperbolic, because Stanley is exaggerating.


a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
      36 ways to study words.
      Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
      How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
      How to improve any sentence.
      How to motivate our kids to write.
      How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
      How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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