Standard Lemma guide

maleficent

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /məˈlɛfɪsənt/
  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /məˈlɛfəsənt/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Harmful or evil in intent or effect.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • maleficent influence
  • maleficent spirit
  • maleficent power
  • In the tale, a maleficent witch cursed the newborn princess.
  • The critic described the character’s smile as darkly maleficent.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: maleficient, evil, malevolent, malicious, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous, baneful, base, black-hearted, dark, deleterious, demonic, depraved, despicable, detrimental, devilish, diabolical, evil-minded, facinorous, flagitious, harmful, heinous, ill-intentioned, ill-natured, immoral, incorrigible, iniquitous, iniquous, injurious, knavish, malefic, maleficent, malign, malignant, naughty, nefarious, niddering, nidering, niding, nithing, no-good, peccaminous, pernicious, reprehensible, reprobate, satanic, scathful, sinful, sinister, sordid, sullen, ungodly, unholy, vicious, vile, villainous, wicked, wrong

Antonyms: beneficent, beneficial, benevolent, magnanimous

2

adjective

Meaning 2

harmful or evil in intent or effect

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: beneficent

History

Etymology

Latin *maleficēns, from male (“bad”) + -ficēns, combining form from faciēns, present participle of faciō (“to make or do”).

Across languages

Translations

30 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: вре́ден (vréden) — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Catalan: malfactor — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Dutch: kwaadaardig — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Dutch: boosaardig — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Dutch: verderfelijk — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Dutch: schadelijk — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Esperanto: malbonfarema — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Estonian: kuritahtlik — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Estonian: kuritegelik — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Estonian: õelutsev — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Finnish: vahingollinen — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • French: maléfique — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Italian: malefico — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Italian: maligno — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Persian: زیانبار (ziyânbâr) — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Persian: زیانبخش (ziyânbaxš) — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Polish: zbrodniczy — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Polish: szkodliwy — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Portuguese: maléfico — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Russian: вре́дный (vrédnyj) — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Russian: вредоно́сный (vredonósnyj) — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Spanish: maléfico — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Swedish: ondsint — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Swedish: elakartad — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Swedish: ondskefull — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Swedish: illasinnad — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Ukrainian: згубний (zhubnyj) — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Ukrainian: злочинний (zločynnyj) — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Ukrainian: пагубний (pahubnyj) — harmful or evil in intent or effect
  • Ukrainian: шкідливий (škidlyvyj) — harmful or evil in intent or effect