mean-spiritedness

noun

as in animosity

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mean-spiritedness Every day this White House offers up a fresh batch of lawlessness and recklessness and mean-spiritedness and just plain craziness. — Halle Troadec, ABC News, 2 Nov. 2025 There’s a weird mean-spiritedness amongst young male losers that is harming them. — Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 24 Oct. 2025 There was a mean-spiritedness that the white COs up in the mountains had for us that the Black and brown ones who guarded us in Sing Sing did not. — John J. Lennon september 24, Literary Hub, 24 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mean-spiritedness
  1. animosity
  2. meanness
  3. antagonism
  4. hostility
  5. malice
  6. spite
  7. rancor
  8. enmity
Noun
  • Damascus’s challenge is to use the dividends from its newfound importance in regional trade to build functioning institutions, distribute resources for recovery, and overcome historical animosities.
    — Jesse Marks, Foreign Affairs, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Trump has increasingly used his animosity toward the press to seek action by the FCC, which controls broadcast licensing.
    — Jeff Mason, Fortune, 30 Aug. 2026
Definition of animosity
Noun
  • The Very Online meanness, and attendant allegations of sexism and élitism, carries echoes of the rift between the Clintonites and the Bernie Bros; El-Sayed has talked openly of using a victory to shape the 2028 Presidential field.
    — Jon Allsop, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026
  • Sometimes the irony turns bitter and, with a typically Eastern European sensibility, highlights the paradoxes of institutions, as well as the madness and meanness born from the pursuit and preservation of power.
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 8 June 2026
Definition of meanness
Noun
  • By defining other civilizations as alien cultures, a civilizationist grand strategy might fuel antagonism rather than tolerate differences.
    — Leonard A. Schuette, Foreign Affairs, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Still, the economic particulars underpinning this needless antagonism essentially are beside the point.
    — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of antagonism
Noun
  • Monsoon rains repeatedly destroy their shelter, and the city offers them little beyond hostility and indifference.
    — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 29 Aug. 2026
  • While Connecticut has responded to these attacks, creating a new student loan program and funding tens of millions in research programming in lieu of federal hostility, the attacks keep coming.
    — Derek Slap, Hartford Courant, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of hostility
Noun
  • Steele said authorities concluded the shooting did not meet the legal standard for a murder charge because the evidence did not support a finding of malice or premeditation.
    — Thao Nguyen, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2026
  • As Musashi clears away the malice, the locals come out of hiding, and more of Kyoto becomes available to explore.
    — Zackery Cuevas, PC Magazine, 31 Aug. 2026
Definition of malice
Noun
  • On a day of love and spite and contrasts, his words resonate.
    — George Caulkin, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Magneto’s words are said in spite to Charles, the man who will miss him the most — who cradles his helmet for hours after Apocalypse has gone, and who keeps reliving the memory of his death over and over again throughout the season.
    — Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 13 Aug. 2026
Definition of spite
Noun
  • Despite the rancor, with nearly a decade left on Taj’s contract, the board and the Indian hotel operators have been trying to negotiate a way forward.
    — Noah Shachtman, Vanity Fair, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Instead, most of its rancor is directed without sectarian bias, at the politician class.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 23 Aug. 2026
Definition of rancor
Noun
  • Arms competition is a symptom of great-power enmity, but enmity alone does not induce an arms race.
    — Jeffrey Lewis, Foreign Affairs, 1 Sep. 2026
  • That may be a tall order, given the enmities in the region and the current lack of trust between the three governments.
    — Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of enmity

Browse Nearby Words

mean-spirited
mean-spiritedness
meant
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Cite this Entry

“Mean-spiritedness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mean-spiritedness. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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