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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of malicious
With that, an attacker can, among other things, hack multi-tenant systems, break out of containers based on Kubernetes or other frameworks, and create malicious pull requests that pipe the exploit code through CI/CD work flows.
—
Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2026
LLMs judge whether a request is malicious by reading the request itself.
—Evan Johnson, IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2026
Some of the tech leaders talked about various UK investments and Charles spoke of AI guardrails and malicious actors.
—Kevin Liptak, CNN Money, 28 Apr. 2026
On March 6, 2026, Moore pleaded no contest to counts of malicious use of a telecommunications device and trespass in a plea agreement that allowed for the other, more serious, charges to be dropped.
—Staff Author, PEOPLE, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for malicious
Scharon Harding, ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2026
LLMs judge whether a request is malicious by reading the request itself.
—Evan Johnson, IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2026
Some of the tech leaders talked about various UK investments and Charles spoke of AI guardrails and malicious actors.
—Kevin Liptak, CNN Money, 28 Apr. 2026
On March 6, 2026, Moore pleaded no contest to counts of malicious use of a telecommunications device and trespass in a plea agreement that allowed for the other, more serious, charges to be dropped.
—Staff Author, PEOPLE, 24 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for malicious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malicious
Adjective
-
The betrayal of Zambada sparked a vicious battle for control of the Sinaloa cartel that has resulted in thousands of deaths.—
Kate Linthicum,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Back in 2023, he was suspended during the playoffs for a vicious cross-check to the head of Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone.—
Matt Reigle OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Even his students can be casually cruel to each other, emulating a president that Artie almost cannot fathom.—
John Warner,
Chicago Tribune,
2 May 2026
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Baseball is a sport built on failure surrounded by a cruel, cynical business, but this level of irony is almost too rich to digest.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
1 May 2026
Adjective
-
An investigation is underway into hateful graffiti in a Long Island neighborhood.—
Jenna DeAngelis,
CBS News,
30 Apr. 2026
-
His humor is far more hateful than clever at this point.—
Bobby Burack OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
During the Braves’ recent trip to Philadelphia, Kyle Farmer came down with a nasty illness possibly brought on by norovirus.—
Chad Bishop,
AJC.com,
1 May 2026
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Mfume has not joined in the negative attack game, but Conway, like other failing candidates, has decided his only political pathway is simply to run a nasty and divisive campaign.—
Bobby Zirkin,
Baltimore Sun,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Something is wrong at New Hyde, a malevolent devil or monster which attacks patients, including Pepper.—
John Hopewell,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2026
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The sound of cockcrow, it was believed, prompted malevolent spirits to fly away.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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However nasty and spiteful things get between the Butleys and the del Valles, there’s always the sense that a détente may still be possible.—
Christopher Arnott,
Hartford Courant,
28 Apr. 2026
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But again and again throughout Thursday's hearing, the fraying of bonds between Kennedy and his former party was on full display as spiteful comments were passed back and forth.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
About half of mammary tumors found in dogs are benign, and of those that are malignant, most can be treated successfully with surgery if caught early enough.—
Samantha Agate,
Kansas City Star,
28 Apr. 2026
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Half of the mammary tumors found in dogs are benign, and of the malignant half, most can be treated successfully with surgery if caught early enough, the veterinary group notes.—
Samantha Agate,
Miami Herald,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Malicious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malicious. Accessed 4 May. 2026.
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