Malevolent
Malevolent 形容一个人或一种力量怀有恶意，渴望看到别人受到伤害或遭遇不幸。它比简单的 “mean”（刻薄）程度更深，带有一种邪恶和蓄意的色彩。
- “He cast a malevolent look at his rival as he passed by.” (当他经过竞争对手时，投去了一个恶毒的眼神。)
- “In some fairy tales, there is always a malevolent witch who wants to curse the kingdom.” (在一些童话故事中，总有一个想要诅咒王国的恶毒女巫。)
- “There was something dark and malevolent about the abandoned house.” (那座废弃的房子散发出一种黑暗而邪恶的气息。)
- mal-: 词根源自拉丁语 malus，意为“坏的”。
- vol-: 词根源自拉丁语 velle，意为“意志、想要”（与 will 同源）。
- -ent: 形容词后缀。
- 前缀: mal- (badly)。
- 词干: vol (wish)。 字面意思就是 “wishing bad”，即“怀有恶意的”。
与其对应的反义词是 benevolent（仁慈的，bene- 意为“好”）。在文学和电影中，malevolent 常用于形容那些没有具体理由、纯粹出于本性的邪恶力量。
- 名词形式: malevolence
- 副词形式: malevolently
拆分单词：Mal (坏) + Vol (意志/心愿) + ent (的)。一个 malevolent 的人就是一个有着“坏心愿”的人。
The villagers whispered that the old tree at the edge of the woods was malevolent. They said its branches would reach out and trip anyone who walked by. One night, a brave boy discovered that the “tripping” was just long grass, but the malevolent shadow of the tree still made him run home as fast as he could.