malign

Vocabulary Word

Definition

'Malign' has two meanings: One is something harmful or bad, like a disease. When used in talking, 'malign' is to say unkind and untrue things about someone.

Examples in Different Contexts

In literary criticism, to 'malign' an author might mean unfairly criticizing their work with the intent to harm their standing. An editor might caution, 'Let's not malign the writer's efforts without thoroughly understanding their context.'

Practice Scenarios

Impact

Scenario:

The local forest is being threatened by a proposed commercial development. What steps can we take to oppose it?

Response:

We should mobilize the local community against the malign impact of the commercial development, and speak to the city council.

Tech

Scenario:

Our cybersecurity system flagged some suspicious activity within our network. Can we look further into it?

Response:

I'll analyze the system logs immediately. If the suspicious activity turns out to be malign, we'll escalate the issue to the cybersecurity team.