malicious

ma·li·cious

adj \mə-ˈli-shəs\

Definition of MALICIOUS

: having or showing a desire to cause harm to someone : given to, marked by, or arising from malice <malicious gossip>

— ma·li·cious·ly adverb

— ma·li·cious·ness noun

Examples of MALICIOUS

1. a malicious distortion of the truth
2. <the neighborhood chatterbox has again been spreading malicious gossip>
3. … she is an inspired hater, and thrills to malicious descriptions of long-forgotten, nameless individuals whose bad luck it was to live near her, or to have met her socially. —Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review, 5 Nov. 2000
4. A cunning and malicious crook who suckered him without half trying. —Philip Roth, American Pastoral, 1997
5. Frank sensed her discomfort and took a certain malicious pleasure in it, enacting all the while his perfect innocence. —John Updike, The Afterlife, 1994

Origin of MALICIOUS

(see malice)

First Known Use: 13th century

Related to MALICIOUS

Synonyms: bad [slang], bitchy, catty, cruel, despiteful, malevolent, hateful, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful, vicious, virulent

Antonyms: benevolent, benign, benignant, loving, unmalicious

Related Words: devious, scoundrelly, scurvy, snakelike; acrimonious, bitter, envious, jaundiced, jealous, rancorous, resentful, vindictive, vitriolic; contemptuous, deprecating, derogatory, disdainful, disparaging, mean-spirited, obnoxious, opprobrious, scornful, snide, snotty, unkind, unkindly, unloving; baleful, baneful, evil; harsh, hostile, inimical; acrid, caustic, poisonous, scathing, venomous

Near Antonyms: compassionate, good, good-hearted, kind, kindhearted, kindly, sympathetic, warm, warmhearted; affable, agreeable, amiable, cordial, friendly, genial, gracious, nice, pleasant; affectionate, amorous, sweet, tender, tenderhearted; humane; altruistic, high-minded, humanitarian, magnanimous, noble, philanthropic (also philanthropical)

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Other Legal Terms

actionable, alienable, carceral, chattel, complicity, decedent, larceny, malfeasance, modus operandi

Rhymes with MALICIOUS

ambitious, auspicious, capricious, delicious, factitious, fictitious, flagitious, judicious, lubricious, nutritious, officious, pernicious, propitious, pumiceous, seditious, sericeous, suspicious