MALICIOUS Synonyms: 88 Similar and Opposite Words

malicious

adjective

mə-ˈli-shəs

Definition of malicious

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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of malicious Two letters redirect actions MuTRAP is a backdoor attack, also known as a Trojan attack, in which malicious behavior is embedded in a model and activated only when a specific trigger appears. — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 21 Oct. 2026 None of this excuses Chris’ malicious behavior, not just toward Carrie but toward her future stepsister, Brooklyn (Rowan Danielle), and the school as a whole, mostly via a fake Instagram account devoted to smearing students and faculty alike. — ArsTechnica, 21 Oct. 2026 On Wednesday, two IP addresses from Canada and the Netherlands, which have been flagged as malicious, were frequently connecting to the honeypots, apparently to probe for vulnerabilities. — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 21 Oct. 2026 An agent may have broader access or authority than its assignment requires, which can enable a mistaken or malicious instruction to trigger a payment, expose sensitive information or disrupt an essential system. — Shekhar Iyer, Forbes.com, 20 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for malicious

Recent Examples of Synonyms for malicious

Adjective

So too, the possibility of Rollerball-style carnage carnivals where robots compete in vicious cage matches until only one android is still moving.

— Rick Burton, Sportico.com, 19 Oct. 2026
Cash reserves totaling $ 7,450,869 are being used to eviscerate his opponent with a vicious barrage of ad hominem assaults, thus giving him a 61 to 1 spending edge.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of vicious

Adjective

In response to legislation to end the cruelty once and for all, the Daily News once again trotted out its old and tired defense of this cruel, deadly and outdated industry.

— Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 18 Oct. 2026
Policing cringe is the cruelest métier of the internet—the origin of harassment campaigns and platforming of contempt.

— Eugenie Brinkema, ARTnews.com, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of cruel

Adjective

Manchester police say over the weekend, vandals wreaked havoc leaving several hateful, antisemitic, racist and homophobic slurs on people's property.

— Paul Burton, CBS News, 19 Oct. 2026
Ossoff went a step further, accusing Collins himself of amplifying hateful content and saying that his former congressional aide had intervened on behalf of a Holocaust denier.

— AJC.com, AJC.com, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of hateful

Adjective

The polls still show a close-range contest, but in the increasingly nasty ad war, the spending suggests a far more lopsided fight.

— Philip Elliott, Time, 19 Oct. 2026
Officers then cuffed the youngster as he was loaded into an ambulance and hospitalized for a fractured femur and a nasty bruise on his head, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by the teen’s dad, Mahmoud Saleh, in Brooklyn Federal Court.

— John Annese, New York Daily News, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of nasty

Adjective

The films leap from 1994 to 1978 to 1666 as high schooler Deena (Kiana Madeira) and her friends battle a malevolent witch from the town’s past to save her girlfriend, Sam (Olivia Scott Welch).

— Sara Netzley, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Oct. 2026
Shunned by locals, who believe she is cursed, Eleni turns to ancient rituals to resurrect her dead offspring but instead summons malevolent folkloric creatures known as the Kalikantzari.

— Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of malevolent

Adjective

It would be seen as a work of merciless autofiction in the vein of Karl Ove Knausgaard, and it would be discussed, as his books are, as aggressive, antisocial, and spiteful.

— B. D. McClay, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
In 1932, Carlos (Milo Quifes) is a young man in Grenada at a time when Spain is lurching uncomfortably towards an ever-increasing spiteful intolerance of homosexuality.

— Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of spiteful

Adjective

Experts say the state-of-the-art Ion robotic bronchoscopy would have indicated whether the tumor was malignant and possibly whether cancer had spread to the lymph nodes.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 18 Oct. 2026
Before enrollment, people volunteering for the study would be screened for early signs of cancer because TB-4 triggers vessel growth and cell migration, which might exacerbate malignant growths.

— CNN Money, CNN Money, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of malignant

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malice

malicious

maliciously

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“Malicious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malicious. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of malicious

adjective

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