Spoken badly about someone or something unfairly, often damaging their reputation or character.
From Old French maligner, from Latin malignare (to do maliciously), derived from malus (bad). The word has meant 'to speak evil of' since the 1500s.
Licorice is one of the most maligned candies—people either love it or hate it passionately, and it's been blamed for health issues so often that it's basically the candy world's misunderstood villain!
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