Crossword clues for maleficence
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Maleficence \Ma*lef"i*cence\, n. [L. maleficentia. Cf. Malfeasance.] Evil doing, esp. to others.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1590s, from Middle French maleficence or directly from Latin maleficentia "evildoing, mischievousness, injury," from maleficus "wicked" (see malefic). Now largely displaced by malfeasance.
Wiktionary
n. harmfulness or mischief
WordNet
n. doing or causing evil [ant: beneficence]
the quality or nature of being harmful or evil [syn: mischief, balefulness] [ant: beneficence]
Usage examples of "maleficence".
Instead, it seized upon the young and strong and vigorous, not wasting its maleficence on any who for other reasons had not long lives to live.
Though it was after midnight, it seemed that half the population of the city was still outdoors, plastered flat by the heat, lolling like melting statues on the benches, dull eyed, listless, stolidly resentful, as if come together in maleficence, felons waiting for doomsday.
The others, who had seen these maleficences and others before, still found them strangely compelling.