Having or showing intense ill will or hatred.

*Malevolence* runs deep. Malevolent enemies have bitter and lasting feelings of ill will. Malevolent racism and bigotry can erupt in acts of violence against innocent people. Malevolence can also show itself in hurtful words, and can sometimes be seen in something as small as an angry look or gesture.

Desiring to cause pain, injury, or distress to another.

*Malicious* and *malevolent* are close in meaning, since both refer to ill will that desires to see someone else suffer. But while *malevolent* suggests deep and lasting dislike, *malicious* usually means petty and spiteful. Malicious gossipers are often simply envious of a neighbor's good fortune. Vandals may take malicious pleasure in destroying and defacing property but usually don't truly hate the owners. *Malice* is an important legal concept, which has to be proved in order to convict someone of certain crimes such as first-degree murder.

To make harsh and often false or misleading statements about.

*Malign* is related to verbs like *defame, slander,* and *libel.* The person or group being maligned is the victim of false or misleading statements, even if the *maligner* isn't necessarily guilty of deliberate lying. Someone or something that's frequently criticized is often said to be “much maligned,” which suggests that the criticism isn't entirely fair or deserved. *Malign* is also an adjective, and writers often refer to a person's malign influence. The very similar *malignant*, which used to be a common synonym of *malign*, today tends to describe dangerous medical conditions, especially cancerous tumors.

Badly or poorly nourished.

Malnourished people can be found in all types of societies. Famine and poverty are only two of the common causes of *malnutrition.* In wealthier societies, malnutrition is often the result of poor eating habits. Any diet that fails to provide the nutrients needed for health and growth can lead to malnutrition, and some malnourished people are actually fat.

(1) A violent and massive change of the earth's surface. (2) A momentous event that results in great upheaval and often destruction.

The *-clysm* part of *cataclysm* comes from the Greek word meaning “to wash,” so *cataclysm*'s original meaning was “flood, deluge,” and especially Noah's Flood itself. A cataclysm causes great and lasting changes. An earthquake or other natural disaster that changes the landscape is one kind of cataclysm, but a violent political revolution may also be a *cataclysmic* event. Many cataclysms could instead be called *catastrophes.*

An underground cemetery of connecting passageways with recesses for tombs.

About forty Christian catacombs have been found near the roads that once led into Rome. After the decline of the Roman empire these cemeteries were forgotten, not to be rediscovered until 1578. *Catacomb* has come to refer to different kinds of underground chambers and passageways. The catacombs of Paris are abandoned stone quarries that were not used for burials until 1787. The catacombs built by a monastery in Palermo, Sicily, for its deceased members later began accepting bodies from outside the monastery; today you may wander through looking at hundreds of mummified corpses propped against the catacomb walls, dressed in tattered clothes that were once fashionable.

(1) A substance that speeds up a chemical reaction or lets it take place under different conditions. (2) Someone or something that brings about or speeds significant change or action.

Chemical catalysts are substances that, in very small amounts, can bring about important chemical changes in large quantities of material. The *catalytic* converter in your car's exhaust system, for instance, uses tiny amounts of platinum to swiftly convert the engine's dangerous gases to carbon dioxide and water vapor. And it's easy to see how the meaning of *catalyst* could broaden to include nonchemical situations. We can now say, for example, that the Great Depression served as the catalyst for such important social reforms as Social Security.

(1) Relating to or suffering from a form of schizophrenia. (2) Showing an unusual lack of movement, activity, or expression.

*Catatonia* is primarily a form of the terrible mental disease known as schizophrenia, though it may show up in patients with a variety of other mental conditions. A common symptom is extreme muscular rigidity; catatonic patients may be “frozen” for hours or even days in a single position. Its causes remain mysterious. Serious though the condition is, most nondoctors use *catatonic* humorously to describe people who seem incapable of moving or changing expression.