as in vicious
having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it
the neighborhood chatterbox has again been spreading malicious gossip
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Recent Examples of malicious
By 2028, Gartner predicts, 25% of enterprise breaches will be traced back to AI agents, including abuse from both internal and external malicious actors.
—
Sage Lazzaro, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2025
The Apple vulnerability is a bug in Image/IO, which allows applications to read and write most image file formats, that could result in memory corruption if a user processes a malicious image.
—Kate O'Flaherty, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025
Some states are still without such laws, however, leaving resident vulnerable to malicious lawsuits.
—Angele Latham, The Tennessean, 26 Aug. 2025
Accessing the code prompts recipients to provide personal and financial information, or can lead to downloading malicious software.
—Laura Daniella Sepulveda, AZCentral.com, 15 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malicious
Sage Lazzaro, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2025
The Apple vulnerability is a bug in Image/IO, which allows applications to read and write most image file formats, that could result in memory corruption if a user processes a malicious image.
—Kate O'Flaherty, Forbes.com, 1 Sep. 2025
Some states are still without such laws, however, leaving resident vulnerable to malicious lawsuits.
—Angele Latham, The Tennessean, 26 Aug. 2025
Accessing the code prompts recipients to provide personal and financial information, or can lead to downloading malicious software.
—Laura Daniella Sepulveda, AZCentral.com, 15 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malicious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malicious
Adjective
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Once infected, the body demands even more energy to fend off infection, leading to a vicious cycle.—
Michal Ruprecht,
NPR,
8 Sep. 2025
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Masked country crooner Orville Peck will keep his face covered while playing Vega, the vicious fighter who uses metal claws as one of his weapons.—
Christopher Rudolph,
PEOPLE,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Because of the cruel math of throughput and utilization, over ten days, only three hundred people experienced Blur.—
Charlie Fink,
Forbes.com,
6 Sep. 2025
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Tamra was awful to Gretchen back then, culminating in the Naked Wasted Party, which was one of the cruelest things to ever happen on Housewives.—
Brian Moylan,
Vulture,
5 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Jack Osbourne has zero tolerance for hateful comments towards his late father, Ozzy Osbourne.—
Christina Dugan Ramirez,
FOXNews.com,
3 Sep. 2025
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YouTube videos posted from an account linked to Westman show a cache of weapons with racist, homophobic, antisemitic and hateful language against Muslims and other minority groups.—
John Bacon,
USA Today,
29 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Sean Gardner/Getty Images This comes just weeks after Zilisch suffered a nasty fall from his car in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen, which resulted in a broken collarbone.—
Lydia Mee,
MSNBC Newsweek,
7 Sep. 2025
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Parents pushing, people cutting lines, nasty attitudes everywhere, especially outside and in Sephora.—
Toria Sheffield,
PEOPLE,
6 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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For some of them, especially those animated by the conviction — not entirely unreasonable — that real power in America lies with shadowy, malevolent and unaccountable forces, the Epstein mythology is too central to their worldview to let go of.—
Michelle Goldberg,
Mercury News,
6 Sep. 2025
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But the new film, set in 1986, finds the Warrens dealing with a bunch of personal matters, as well as a Pennsylvania family haunted by a mirror cursed with malevolent spirits.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Played by a sniveling Casey Siemaszko, Billy is spineless and spiteful.—
Sezin Devi Koehler September 1,
EW.com,
1 Sep. 2025
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Several diss tracks followed, with the musicians hurling increasingly spiteful insults at each other relating to accusations of domestic abuse, exploitation and pedophilia.—
Winston Cho,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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The fact that the cancer had metastasized means the malignant cells had spread to other parts of the body, forming tumors.—
KiMi Robinson,
USA Today,
26 Aug. 2025
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His story is not defined by a malignant mole a decade ago.—
Zach Berman,
New York Times,
21 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Malicious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malicious. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
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