malicious
adjective
Did you know?
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
Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 10 July 2025
Deepfakes have been growing more sophisticated in recent years, in addition to being increasingly deployed for malicious purposes.
—Shannon Bond, NPR, 10 July 2025
This integrates with Chrome on Android, the trio of security experts explained, in three specific ways:
By enabling the always use secure connections setting to protect users from hackers injecting malicious content or reading data.
—Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 9 July 2025
Wilson noted that manslaughter, unlike murder, is considered less malicious under the law.
—Calmatters, Mercury News, 9 July 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 18 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
malicious
adjective
Legal Definition
malicious
adjective
Share