1
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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
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
3
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
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Recent Examples of nastiness
Meanwhile, the movie’s villains — played by recognizable faces, among them Heather Graham and Tom Felton — get pretty much zero by way of personality, or even superficial nastiness, making Asia’s reprisals a whole lot less entertaining.
—
Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Mar. 2026
That sentimentality makes all this nastiness more satisfying.
—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2026
On the right, the primary between incumbent Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is heading to a runoff, which likely promises nearly three months of nastiness.
—Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
Released post-Columbine and heavily influenced by that tragedy, Scream 3 walks back from the gruesome violence and flashes of genuine nastiness that permeated the previous installments.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Mar. 2026
Those guys have physicality, nastiness, speed, smarts.
—Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 3 Feb. 2026
In-state offensive tackle Maxwell Riley is impressive changing direction and finishes plays with the type of nastiness that will endear him to fans in Columbus.
—Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025
Tracy’s dialogue, though absent the staccato non sequiturs of the director’s earlier work, has a bracing nastiness; every visual flourish and every menacing thrum of the score, by Jerskin Fendrix, escalates the intensity of Stone and Plemons’s bravura showdown.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
In this battle for reputation protection, no one’s a winner — including the audience who might just want to shower after all this nastiness and cruelty ends.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2025
Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Mar. 2026
That sentimentality makes all this nastiness more satisfying.
—Eric Vilas-Boas, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2026
On the right, the primary between incumbent Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is heading to a runoff, which likely promises nearly three months of nastiness.
—Elaine Godfrey, The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2026
Released post-Columbine and heavily influenced by that tragedy, Scream 3 walks back from the gruesome violence and flashes of genuine nastiness that permeated the previous installments.
—Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Mar. 2026
Those guys have physicality, nastiness, speed, smarts.
—Chris Perkins, Sun Sentinel, 3 Feb. 2026
In-state offensive tackle Maxwell Riley is impressive changing direction and finishes plays with the type of nastiness that will endear him to fans in Columbus.
—Matthew Schmidt, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Dec. 2025
Tracy’s dialogue, though absent the staccato non sequiturs of the director’s earlier work, has a bracing nastiness; every visual flourish and every menacing thrum of the score, by Jerskin Fendrix, escalates the intensity of Stone and Plemons’s bravura showdown.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
In this battle for reputation protection, no one’s a winner — including the audience who might just want to shower after all this nastiness and cruelty ends.
—Randy Myers, Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nastiness
Noun
-
Jurors later recommended an additional $3 million in punitive damages after deciding the companies acted with malice, oppression or fraud in harming children with their platforms.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Jurors later recommended an additional $3 million in punitive damages after deciding the companies acted with malice, oppression or fraud in harming children with their platforms.—
Kaitlyn Huamani,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
If an exclamation point only signified gore and grossness, this gothic rock opera would more than qualify.—
Rachel Simon,
Vulture,
6 Mar. 2026
-
The characters’ propensity for ugly faces, silliness and a bit of grossness too, stems from the portrayals of girlhood and young womanhood that appeal to them.—
Carlos Aguilar,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The woman who was bitten, later identified as 46-year-old Gabriela Bautista of Moorpark, died March 19 as a result of rattlesnake venom toxicity, the Ventura County medical examiner’s office told KTLA.—
Clara Harter,
Los Angeles Times,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Do not apply a tourniquet, slash the wound with a knife or attempt to suck out the venom, officials warned.—
Laylan Connelly,
Oc Register,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
It is hoped that political ad campaigns would aim to lessen the meanness and divisiveness and vulgarity that have damaged our democracy.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
25 Feb. 2026
-
Former President Richard Nixon proved himself no slouch in the vulgarity department after reaching the White House in 1969.—
Bart Jansen,
USA Today,
22 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
An earnest, has-a-costume-for-everything kind of guy, Daub is allergic to the greige and the dinge.—
Sandra Upson,
Wired,
18 Jan. 2021
-
Dinges said the two crewmembers whose sleep remained steady -- even in the absence of conventional daylight -- were those who kept to a strict schedule and found other ways to control their biological clocks.—
Michael Nedelman,
CNN,
1 June 2017
Noun
-
Iran hasn't been hiding its hatred of America.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
24 Mar. 2026
-
Also shattered was the community’s shaky sense of security, already strained by wars in the Middle East and what many say is soaring hatred of Jews.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
24 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
By harnessing a particle accelerator to generate extraordinarily bright, coherent X-rays, the team was able to capture high-resolution internal anatomy in seconds, without the lengthy staining or other preprocessing steps often required for soft-tissue contrast in standard lab scanners.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
5 Mar. 2026
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Using chemical imaging techniques, researchers attempted to determine whether the staining was intentional or accidental.—
Maria Mocerino,
Interesting Engineering,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Federal authorities allege in an indictment that the images portrayed of dogs raised and offered for sale at the Giant German Shepherd Ranch in Hopkins County were a disguise for a place where, instead, cruelty and neglect were rampant.—
J.D. Miles,
CBS News,
24 Mar. 2026
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In July, 2014, at the height of negotiations between the Islamic Republic and world powers over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, my wife and I were arrested and thrown into Evin Prison, a notorious facility known throughout Iran for its cruelty.—
Jason Rezaian,
New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Nastiness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nastiness. Accessed 27 Mar. 2026.
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