NASTINESS Synonyms: 184 Similar and Opposite Words

nastiness

noun

Definition of nastiness

as in malice

the desire to cause pain for the satisfaction of doing harm there was a natural nastiness about him that was evident from the time he was a small child

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in grossness

the quality or state of being obscene the nastiness of the graffiti required that the school remove it immediately

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in dustiness

the state or quality of being dirty the piles of rotting food in the kitchen were only one element in the apartment's general impression of appalling nastiness

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

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 nastiness The rest of us either quietly grumbled, or our comments were drowned in a sea of nastiness. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026 The aesthetic lineage Wingard invokes relied on the genuine nastiness of works like Faster, Pussycat! — Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 4 Sep. 2026 When the Indiana Fever in 2024 drafted Caitlin Clark, the leading scorer in NCAA history—male or female—the league’s audience exploded, but so did the culture war nastiness. — The Week Us, TheWeek, 22 Aug. 2026 The nastiness of intellectual disputes, therefore, depends in part on how people frame their positions. — Andras Molnar, The Conversation, 13 Aug. 2026 At this point, there's reason to wonder when and if the WNBA can move past the nastiness and racial hysteria that have defined the past few seasons. — Bobby Burack Outkick, FOXNews.com, 28 July 2026 The bullpen ranks 30th in FanGraphs’ Stuff+ metric, which more or less measures the nastiness of a pitcher’s arsenal. — Spencer Nusbaum, New York Times, 24 June 2026 Just as surprising as all of the nastiness is the turn that happens mid-movie. — David Sims, The Atlantic, 17 June 2026 The source material is occasionally witty and obsessive, but also carries a tone of unremitting nastiness. — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 9 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for nastiness

Noun

In October, a Newton County grand jury indicted 43-year-old Taiesha Wilson on charges of malice murder, murder, concealing the death of another, identity theft, and more.

— Dan Raby, CBS News, 14 Oct. 2026
Kingston Bradley of Smyrna, Georgia, was arrested and charged with concealing the death of another and malice murder in connection with Mosley’s death.

— Matt Lavietes, NBC news, 26 Sep. 2026

Definition of malice

Noun

But Paddy’s isn’t Sudz, and the Gang’s efforts to soft-pedal their antics to be more in line with those mainstream bars devolved into typical Sunny-style hostility and off-putting grossness.

— Dennis Perkins, Entertainment Weekly, 28 July 2026
All your Dad has to do is fill it and drink—the microfilter membrane will do the rest by removing chlorine odors, dirt, bacteria, and any other grossness floating around in there.

— Francesca Krempa, Travel + Leisure, 11 June 2026

Definition of grossness

Noun

There’s a real opportunity in the fourth episode to do something fun, or at least interesting, when Tyson convinces Russ to join him in smoking hallucinatory toad venom, but no flair or flourishes emerge.

— Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 13 Oct. 2026
Spiders, for instance, have muscles surrounding their venom glands, which contract and eject venom through hollow fangs.

— Jennifer Ouellette, ArsTechnica, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of venom

Noun

Lower courts upheld the ban, finding the veiled vulgarity of the phrase allows schools to ban it.

— CBS News, CBS News, 6 Oct. 2026
The diaries—particularly in Julian Sachs’s unexpurgated version, which captures Pavese’s alternating earnestness, archness, and pungent vulgarity—pose something of a problem.

— Max Norman, Harpers Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of vulgarity

Noun

Bleach is genuinely good at killing mildew and lifting the biological staining that makes white grout look gray.

— Daley Quinn, Southern Living, 12 Sep. 2026
Dylan Gould, director of design at Cargo Workshop, says clients often have concerns about marble staining, etching, or not holding up well.

— Helena Madden, Martha Stewart, 6 Sep. 2026

Definition of staining

Noun

The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country.

— Leonie Kidd, CNBC, 19 Oct. 2026
Underneath that façade was a sociopathic white supremacist neo-Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day.

— Asal Rezaei, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of hatred

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“Nastiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nastiness. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of nastiness

noun

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