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
An image-parsing bug in the software that presented hardware manufacturers’ logos during bootup allowed attackers to bypass Secure Boot and infect the UEFI with malicious firmware.
—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
17 June 2026
For cybersecurity companies, identifying a digital agent crawling a website used to be enough evidence of malicious activity.
—
Rachyl Jones,
semafor.com,
17 June 2026
One is to emphasize Iago—the guileful, insinuating convincingness of this malicious supervillain, who works on Othello to the point where any reasonable man would be deceived and fooled and worked into a rage that can lead to such a catastrophe.
—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
17 June 2026
Google says its Android protections also help detect suspicious calls and block malicious messages.
—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
17 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for malicious
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
17 June 2026
For cybersecurity companies, identifying a digital agent crawling a website used to be enough evidence of malicious activity.
—
Rachyl Jones,
semafor.com,
17 June 2026
One is to emphasize Iago—the guileful, insinuating convincingness of this malicious supervillain, who works on Othello to the point where any reasonable man would be deceived and fooled and worked into a rage that can lead to such a catastrophe.
—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
17 June 2026
Google says its Android protections also help detect suspicious calls and block malicious messages.
—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
17 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for malicious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malicious
Adjective
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This vicious machine chewed him up and spit him out in predictable fashion.
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The mood changed a bit when Tab Ramos took a vicious elbow to the side of his head and fractured his skull.
Adjective
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Swift moved on from one Brit to the next, quietly dating actor Joe Alwyn from 2017 to 2023, while the world spent back-to-back cruel summers without Taymerica.
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This is particularly gratifying given the absurd and cruel trolling the young actress received from the toxic corners of internet fandom leading up to the film’s release.
Adjective
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Social media sites used for hateful comments Pumphrey made threatening posts on the social media platform YouTube and other social media sites, according to the guilty plea.
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Political podcasters such as Tucker Carlson peddle conspiracies and lies, and there seems to be little consequence for hateful rhetoric.
Adjective
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Including some rather nasty, big corpo bullies who enlist specialist teams to hunt down clues, and other players, too.
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Betty Kovacs, the eldest daughter of comedian Ernie Kovacs who with her sister Kippie and stepmother, actress-singer Edie Adams, was at the center of a nasty custody battle that kept Hollywood riveted in 1962, has died.
Adjective
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The slow-burn thriller is partially based on a 17th century ballad in which the heroic outlaw’s cousin, a malevolent prioress, bleeds the older, ailing Robin to death under the guise of the ancient medical treatment known as bloodletting.
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Ryan has also had some unexplained incidents involving an unseen, malevolent force.
Adjective
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Everyone has an acid tongue and brims with spiteful resentment.
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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.
Adjective
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During that time, Carol faced a relapse of a malignant brain tumor, which had been diagnosed 7 years earlier at the age of 36.
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Mancini then missed the 2020 season after surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his colon.
Cite this Entry
“Malicious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malicious. Accessed 3 Jul. 2026.
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