Liliputin-5711

Don't even try to convince me that Trumpism is a benign tumor of Pax Americana ... "
Hippocrates

Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2025/03/08/5867

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benign
adjective
be·;nign bi-;n;n
Synonyms of benign
1
a
: of a mild type or character that does not threaten health or life
especially : not becoming cancerous
a benign lung tumor
b
: having no significant effect : harmless
environmentally benign
2
: of a gentle disposition : gracious
a benign teacher
3
a
: showing kindness and gentleness
benign faces
b
: favorable, wholesome
a benign climate
benignity

 noun
benignly

 adverb


Did you know?
Benign Shares Its Latin Root With Many Words

Benign traces back to the Latin adjective benignus, which was formed from bene, meaning "well," and the verb gignere, "to beget"—that is, "to produce or create." Gignere is also the root of such English words as genius and germ, and even shares distant ancestry with kin. The meanings of benign range from describing an absence of danger or harm to that which shows kindness or is gracious or wholesome.

Synonyms
anodyne
harmless
hurtless
innocent
innocuous
inoffensive
safe
white
Examples of benign in a Sentence
… substituting such benign power sources as the hybrid, the fuel cell, and the electric motor in place of … the internal-combustion engine.
—Brock Yates, Car and Driver, May 2000
Rather than a benign fairytale creature that delivers babies, the marabou stork is an ugly, viciously predatory African bird that preys on flamingos …
—James Polk, New York Times Book Review, 11 Feb. 1996
… her pulled-back black hair had gone gray in strange distinct bands, but she seemed much as he remembered her, solid and energetic, with a certain benign defiance.
—John Updike, New Yorker, 23 May 1988
When she chose to smile on me, I always wanted to thank her. The action was so graceful and inclusively benign.
—Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Similarly, The Church (1938) looks benign enough: a well-coiffed woman, seen from behind, ambles toward a little country chapel way down a dirt road.
—Jeremy Lybarger, ARTnews.com, 26 Mar. 2025
Something as benign as a leadoff double might trigger an alarm inside him.
—Andy McCullough, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
Daniele Bianchi, an assistant professor in UCLA’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, has been studying what causes this normally benign plankton species to start secreting lethal toxins.
—Susanne Rust, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2025
These tumors can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous).
—Laura Schober, Health, 20 Mar. 2025

Word History
Etymology
Middle English benigne, from Anglo-French, from Latin benignus, from bene + gignere to beget — more at kin

First Known Use
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of benign was in the 14th century
See more words from the same century
Phrases Containing benign
benign neglect
benign paroxysmal positional vertigo
benign positional vertigo
benign prostatic hyperpla

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Pax Americana (Latin for 'American Peace', modeled after Pax Romana and Pax Britannica), also called the "Long Peace", is a term applied to the concept of relative peace in the Western Hemisphere and later in the world after the end of World War II in 1945, when the United States of America became the world's foremost economic, cultural, and military power. In this sense, Pax Americana has come to describe the military and economic position of the United States relative to other nations. In the aftermath of World War II the American federal government enacted the Marshall Plan, the transferring of US$13.3 billion (the equivalent of $173 billion in 2023) in economic recovery programs to Western European countries; the Marshall Plan has been described as "the launching of the Pax Americana".