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Added 10 October 2026

maleficence

/məˈlɛfɪsəns/ noun

Latin root: maleficentia Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about maleficence at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Doing or causing evil.
The quality or nature of being harmful or evil.

Origin

From Italian maleficenza or Middle French maleficence or directly from Latin maleficentia.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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