benign

«benign» in Mova's school dictionary: kind, gentle and not harmful — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (benign, more benign)

meaning for a pupil

1) Benign means kind, gentle and not harmful. tree →

2) (medicine) A benign lump or tumour is not cancer and does not spread. tree →

sense in the lessons

Formal word used in descriptions of people and in medicine: «The doctor said the lump was benign» is good news. In stories, a benign smile is a kind one.

examples

• The old man gave a benign smile. tree →
• The doctor said the lump was benign, so we were relieved. tree →
• The weather was benign all week. tree →
• Badger looked at Mole with a benign expression. tree →
• Most spiders in Britain are benign to people. tree →
• Her presence seemed to have a benign influence on those there. tree →

note

Pronounced «bi-NINE» (the g is silent). Opposite: malignant (harmful; medicine: cancer that spreads).

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «benign» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.