malicious

adjective ma·li·cious \ mə-ˈli-shəs \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Examples: malicious in a Sentence

Editor's Note: malicious, malevolent, and malice

Definition of malicious

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

malicious gossip

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maliciously

adverb

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maliciousness

noun

See malicious defined for English-language learners

See malicious defined for kids

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 of malicious from the Web

Police say 28-year-old Yerachmiel Taube, of Sharon, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday on charges including malicious destruction of property and destruction to a religious organization.

— Fox News, "Suspect in vandalism to Jewish boundary heads to court," 4 June 2018
The additional charges Griffin faces include carrying a loaded firearm without a license and malicious destruction of property, police said.

— travis andersen, BostonGlobe.com, "Dorchester man arrested for firing shots into Cambridge home in early morning attack," 25 May 2018
The attack on Sessions was malicious and not Trump's fault.

— Anchorage Daily News, "Trump throws away his momentum for peanuts," 10 Feb. 2018
Technology companies and digital security experts say requiring companies to weaken encryption or provide a means to access the devices would harm overall internet security and empower malicious actors.

— dustin volz, WSJ, "FBI Says No Misconduct in Inflated Number of Encrypted Phones," 23 May 2018
Shaun Fleming introduces as few moments of jarring and malicious humor as Herod in golden drag.

— deanna isaacs, Chicago Reader, "Lyric’s Jesus Christ is, indeed, a superstar," 1 May 2018
In January 1992, he was charged with malicious destruction of property under $100.

— cliff pinckard, cleveland.com, "Michigan doctor, in U.S. for nearly 40 years, detained by ICE," 23 Jan. 2018
That's at best optimistic and at worst a malicious distortion.

— luke darby, GQ, "The Trump Administration Is Forcing Out Thousands of Immigrants Against Its Own Ambassadors’ Warnings," 9 May 2018
Bose and McNally spoke about Facebook’s ecosystem approach to tackling fake news, including removing false accounts and assets like clusters of fraudulently created Pages, banning ads on malicious pages, and limiting the distribution of false posts.

— thuy ong, The Verge, "Facebook is shrinking fake news posts in the News Feed," 30 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'malicious.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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.