malignity

noun

Etymology: From Middle English malignete, malignitee, malignyte, malyngnite, from Middle French maligneté, from Latin malignitās. By surface analysis, malign + -ity. * (a group of goblins): Coined by David Malki in the 30 October 2009 Wondermark webcomic strip “Supernatural Collective Nouns”.

1. The quality of being malign or malignant; badness, evilness, monstrosity, depravity, maliciousness.

   “He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he mediated the most desperate catastrophe to our rencounter.”

   “His enjoyment of the spectacle I furnished, as he sat with his arms folded on the table, shaking his head at me and hugging himself, had a malignity in it that made me tremble.”

2. A non-benign cancer; a malignancy.

   “The absence of any histological sign of malignity in the primary tumor and in the metastases, as observed in our patient, is remarkable.”

3. A group of goblins.

   “There was a whole malignity‡ of goblins up on the roof, but if you wanted your clacks to fly fast, you didn’t use the term out loud.”

   “A malignity of goblins chattered loudly, some of them standing on their table.”