malicious
adjective
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Malicious, Malevolent, and Malice
Malicious and malevolent are close in meaning, since both refer to ill will that desires to see someone else suffer. But while malevolent suggests deep and lasting dislike, malicious usually means petty and spiteful. Malicious gossipers are often simply envious of a neighbor's good fortune. Vandals may take malicious pleasure in destroying and defacing property but usually don't truly hate the owners. Malice is an important legal concept, which has to be proved in order to convict someone of certain crimes such as first-degree murder.
Examples of malicious in a Sentence
Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times Book Review, 5 Nov. 2000
A cunning and malicious crook who suckered him without half trying.
—Philip Roth, American Pastoral, 1997
Frank sensed her discomfort and took a certain malicious pleasure in it, enacting all the while his perfect innocence.
—John Updike, The Afterlife, 1994
a malicious distortion of the truth
the neighborhood chatterbox has again been spreading malicious gossip
Sujita Sinha, Interesting Engineering, 11 Sep. 2025
The attack was traced to an employee downloading a malicious file that was thought to be legitimate.
—PC Magazine, 11 Sep. 2025
The same week a deepfake Tim Cook scammed more than 200,000 people into viewing a malicious iPhone 17 launch stream, the FBI warns that scams targeting Americans are now out of control, highlighting deepfakes.
—Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Mobile security apps can block fraudulent sites, warn you before downloads and protect against malicious QR code attacks.
—Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 9 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malicious
Cite this Entry
“Malicious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malicious. Accessed 16 Sep. 2025.
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malicious
adjective
Legal Definition
malicious
adjective
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