Bad, Abnormal, and Just Plain Wrong: mal (bad; evil; wrong)

It still surprises me to hear such malice in his voice. Red Queen

People like to predict the future, often a dismal future, but the future is not written. The Guardian (Jun 18, 2017)

The general advice trends toward aiming for a healthy weight, eating nutritious food and getting exercise to prevent health maladies. Washington Times (Apr 4, 2017)

It was not clear whether the lesion was benign or malignant. Reuters (May 24, 2017)

He fell ill with malaria and nothing the healer concocted saved him. The Color Purple

His Willy Wonka was gentle and generous but also vaguely malevolent—though only if you were a child bent on misbehaving. Time (Aug 29, 2016)

But the emphasis can’t be only on prosecuting those malefactors, or protecting the whistleblowers who reveal their identities. The Guardian (May 24, 2015)

He dismissed them as “a malcontent group that is very vocal.” New York Times (Feb 10, 2017)

He examined the book while walking back to his chair and wasn’t surprised to see the abysmal condition it was in. Anger Is a Gift

Malodorous trash piled up on the sidewalks of Beirut in August after the government closed a main landfill, suspending garbage collection. US News (Sep 1, 2015)

Usually Mr. Birkway would let people go to the bathroom or to the nurse, but this time he said, “Let’s not malinger!” Walk Two Moons

The government would be accused of negligence, incompetence, even malfeasance in its handling of the case. New York Times (Jun 19, 2017)

He had been maladroit, he thought, had lost his presence of mind. Ward, Humphry, Mrs.

But Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House” beats them all: a maleficent house, real human protagonists, everything half-seen or happening in the dark. New York Times (Jul 16, 2018)

It was a cold wind, too, and few of the passengers who had withstood the attacks of mal de mer ventured on deck. Westerman, Percy F. (Percy Francis)