adjective
- wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious: His failures made him malevolent toward those who were successful.
- evil; harmful; injurious: a malevolent inclination to destroy the happiness of others.
- Astrology. evil or malign in influence.
adjective
- wishing or appearing to wish evil to others; malicious
- astrology having an evil influence
adj.c.1500, from Middle French malivolent and directly from Latin malevolentem (nominative malevolens) “ill-disposed, spiteful, envious,” from male “badly” (see mal-) + volentem (nominative volens), present participle of velle “to wish” (see will (v.)). Related: Malevolently.