Malevolence is the wish to see harm come to somebody. Not anger, which passes — a settled desire for things to go badly for someone.
The word is built from Latin parts that mean wishing badly, and its opposite, benevolence, is wishing well, which is why the pair are worth learning together. Malevolence belongs to serious writing and to villains: the malevolence in his voice, an act of pure malevolence. The adjective malevolent is commoner than the noun and does most of the work — a malevolent stare, a malevolent presence in the house. What separates it from cruelty is that cruelty acts and malevolence only has to want.
1nounmalevolenceThe wish to do harm to others, or to see harm done.
“There was a real malevolence behind the joke.”
synonyms: malice, spite
Malevolence names a wish and not a deed. Latin malevolentia is built on volēns, wishing, from velle, to want, with male, badly, in front, so the harm is intended rather than done.
Proto-Indo-European
*welh₁-
Latin
malevolentia — malevolence
Middle French
malevolence
English, today
malevolence
Built from
From Middle French malevolence, from Latin malevolentia (“malevolence”), derived from malevolēns (“malevolent”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA