Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb malign

1 sense of malign

Sense 1
badmouth, malign, traduce, drag through the mud -- (speak unfavorably about; "She badmouths her husband everywhere")
       => defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch -- (charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone; "The journalists have defamed me!" "The article in the paper sullied my reputation")

Antonyms of adj malign

2 senses of malign

Sense 1
malign (vs. benign) -- (evil or harmful in nature or influence; "prompted by malign motives"; "believed in witches and malign spirits"; "gave him a malign look"; "a malign lesion")

benign (vs. malign), benignant -- (pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence; "a benign smile"; "the benign sky"; "the benign influence of pure air")
        => kindly -- (pleasant and agreeable; "a kindly climate"; "kindly breeze")

Sense 2
malefic, malevolent, malign, evil -- (having or exerting a malignant influence; "malevolent stars"; "a malefic force")

INDIRECT (VIA maleficent) -> beneficent -- (doing or producing good; "the most beneficent regime in history")

Similarity of adj malign

2 senses of malign

Sense 1
malign (vs. benign) -- (evil or harmful in nature or influence; "prompted by malign motives"; "believed in witches and malign spirits"; "gave him a malign look"; "a malign lesion")
       => cancerous -- (like a cancer; an evil that grows and spreads; "remorse was cancerous within him"; "pornography is cancerous to the moral development of our children")
          Also See-> harmful#1; maleficent#1; unkind#1

Sense 2
malefic, malevolent, malign, evil -- (having or exerting a malignant influence; "malevolent stars"; "a malefic force")
       => maleficent (vs. beneficent) -- (harmful or evil in intent or effect)