malicious

adjective

ma·​li·​cious mə-ˈli-shəs 

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

malicious gossip

maliciously adverb

maliciousness noun

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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.

Synonyms of malicious

• vicious
• cruel
• hateful
• nasty
• malevolent
• spiteful
• malignant

Examples of malicious in a Sentence

… 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

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

Recent Examples on the Web

Police said investigators obtained arrest warrants for malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and said additional charges could be added later. — Dennis Romero, NBC news, 15 Aug. 2026

Dutch officials have warned that a high-severity macOS vulnerability that allows attackers to execute malicious code is under active exploitation. — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 14 Aug. 2026

However, a reset may not eliminate malicious software built into the original firmware. — Jesse Watson , Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 14 Aug. 2026

The cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks recently studied websites at domain names whose URLs are frequently hallucinated by AI chatbots, discovering at some of these sites a range of malware and other malicious code. — David Berreby, IEEE Spectrum, 13 Aug. 2026

Word History

Etymology

see malice

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing malicious

• malicious mischief

Rhymes for malicious

• adventitious
• cementitious
• expeditious
• inauspicious
• injudicious
• meretricious
• repetitious
• superstitious
• surreptitious
• unambitious
• unpropitious
• unsuspicious

Kids Definition

malicious

adjective

ma·​li·​cious mə-ˈlish-əs 

1

: doing mean things for pleasure

2

: done just to be mean

malicious gossip

maliciously adverb

maliciousness noun

Legal Definition

malicious

adjective

ma·​li·​cious mə-ˈli-shəs 

: given to, marked by, or arising from malice

malicious destruction of property

maliciously adverb

maliciousness noun