mid 16th cent. (also in the sense likely to rebel against God or authority): from late Latin malignant-contriving maliciously, from the verb malignare. The term was used in its early sense to describe those sympathetic to the royalist cause during the English Civil War
英英释义行业释义网络释义
noun
1.dangerous to health; characterized by progressive and uncontrolled growth (especially of a tumor)