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What’s the difference between malignant and benign?

In a medical context, the word malignant is used to describe harmful masses or tumors that are cancerous and that grow and spread disease. The word benign is the opposite—it’s used to describe masses or tumors that are not cancerous (those that do not spread disease to other parts of the body).Both words are sometimes also used in general ways. Malignant can mean harmful or intended or intending to cause harm, while benign can mean kind, favorable, or gracious.The best clue to help remember their meanings is the prefix mal-, which means “bad” and shows up in a lot of other negative words, such as malfunction, malpractice, malicious, and maleficent.Here’s an example of malignant and benign used correctly in the same sentence.Example: She was afraid the lump was a malignant tumor, but it turned out to be a benign cyst—totally harmless.Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between malignant and benign.