How to Use benign in a Sentence

benign

adjective
  • We were happy to hear that the tumor was benign.
  • Farther south, the effects of the heat are less benign.
    Alejandra Borunda, National Geographic, 30 Sep. 2019
  • In the moment, that Marisnick did not catch the ball was benign.
    Chandler Rome, Houston Chronicle, 29 June 2018
  • More benign footage has been removed from the video, as well.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 26 July 2023
  • Odds are the lump is benign, and your guy may not need to address it at all.
    Jenna Birch, Health.com, 16 Mar. 2018
  • There are about 4,000 species of snails worldwide and most are benign.
    Bill Heavey, Field & Stream, 5 Aug. 2020
  • But the tumor was benign, and Quinn had surgery to enable him to live with the tumor.
    Colleen Kane, Chicago Tribune, 27 Apr. 2022
  • Some of the pictures are as benign as a day at the beach, but others smack of danger.
    Mark Jenkins, Washington Post, 24 June 2022
  • The intent might be as benign as the creative use of language.
    Robert Myers, Quartz, 8 Aug. 2019
  • The current that cut that canyon looks shallow and benign.
    Keith McCafferty, Field & Stream, 11 Dec. 2020
  • The benign terra cotta heads were deemed by some to be racist.
    John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 2 June 2017
  • But the most dispiriting sounds of all are often the most benign.
    Eben Weiss, Outside Online, 17 Mar. 2022
  • Doctors removed the mass, which turned out to be benign.
    al, 26 Apr. 2021
  • Sulin, in turn, assured her daughter that the growth was benign.
    Jiayang Fan, The New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2020
  • That might seem benign, or perhaps even endearing—the sound of the bustle of the big city.
    Kate Wagner, The Atlantic, 20 Feb. 2018
  • At first, the ghostly sightings are benign, but then the spirit asks to move into the doll.
    Eliza Thompson, Cosmopolitan, 20 June 2017
  • Uterine fibroids are benign tumors that grow in and around the uterus.
    Sumathi Reddy, WSJ, 23 Oct. 2017
  • But as with many things in life, a benign trend gone too far can become a problem.
    Matthew Yglesias, Vox, 3 Apr. 2018
  • Chimps are the natural host of only a few viruses, and these are on the whole rather benign.
    Kyle Harper, Time, 11 Mar. 2020
  • Some of the most common: fibroids, polyps and benign uterine growths.
    Beth Anne MacAluso, Redbook, 27 Dec. 2017
  • But even the apps that are slightly more benign, or at least less legally pressed, are part of the same system.
    J.c. Pan, The New Republic, 3 Sep. 2020
  • Singer lies on her sofa in pain after the removal of a mass from her breast that turned out to be benign.
    Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2021
  • Of course, sometimes, the newcomer doesn't want to be benign.
    Clay Skipper, GQ, 23 June 2017
  • But water isn't as benign as one might be inclined to think.
    Miriam Fauzia, USA TODAY, 24 Sep. 2019
  • The root causes of today’s low rates of price growth might be mostly benign.
    Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, 15 June 2017
  • The idea that pot is benign, or only an issue within a unit, is not true.
    Beth Teitell, BostonGlobe.com, 15 Apr. 2018
  • And the honest mistake, a benign mix-up anyone could have made, proved to be costly.
    Prem Thakker, The New Republic, 18 Apr. 2023
  • Most of us like to think of ourselves as benign, decent, nice people.
    Washington Post, 28 Apr. 2021
  • The phrase may seem benign – even obvious – to us watching back at home.
    Stephen Fishbach, PEOPLE.com, 12 Oct. 2017
  • Among the military’s rank-and-file, though, there were signs of a less benign attitude.
    Patrick Kingsley Avishag Shaar-Yashuv, New York Times, 9 Jan. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'benign.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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