Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Having the nature of or resulting from malice; deliberately harmful; spiteful.
  • adjective Law Done with malice.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Indulging in or feeling malice; harboring ill-will, enmity, or hostility; actively malevolent; malignant in heart: often used in a lighter sense, implying mischievousness with some ill-will.
  • Proceeding from extreme hatred or ill-will; dictated by malice: as, a malicious report.
  • The committing of physical injury to personal property of another; injury to property, from wantonness or malice, as distinguished from theft.
  • An action brought by the sufferer to recover damages from the person who set on foot such a prosecution.
  • Synonyms Evil-minded, ill-disposed, spiteful, resentful. See animosity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Indulging or exercising malice; harboring ill will or enmity.
  • adjective Proceeding from hatred or ill will; dictated by malice
  • adjective (Law) With wicked or mischievous intentions or motives; wrongful and done intentionally without just cause or excuse.
  • adjective the desertion of a wife or husband without just cause.
  • adjective (Law) a wanton prosecution or arrest, by regular process in a civil or criminal proceeding, without probable cause.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or as a result of malice or spite
  • adjective Deliberately harmful; spiteful

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having the nature of or resulting from malice

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin malitiosus, from malitia ("malice"), from malus ("bad").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word malicious.

Examples

  • Note, this message would have to come from someone already in your Skype Contact List, as Skype's default privacy settings will not let you receive messages from people that you have not already authorized, hence the term malicious contact.

    The Download Blog: Software tips, news, and opinions from Download.com editors Elinor Mills 2011

  • As questions from investors and analysts about Jefferies's financial strength swirled in November, the firm issued a letter to investors and customers in an attempt to defend the company from what it called "malicious lies."

    Pay and Restructuring Rile Staff at Jefferies Steve Eder 2012

  • CHETRY: Yes, but according to this report, and I mean, they say there were more than 54,000, what they call malicious acts against the Defense Department alone.

    CNN Transcript Nov 12, 2009 2009

  • National police spokeswoman Director Sally de Beer said the rumours related to what she labelled malicious allegations of corruption against board members.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2001

  • Ulysses knew, that a heavenly guide was with him in his wanderings; still less that what he called the malicious sport of fortune was, in truth, the earnest education of a Father ....

    Daily Thoughts selected from the writings of Charles Kingsley by his wife Charles Kingsley 1847

  • But he said Google was aware of the issue and was already working on changes, which will be adopted in coming days, to prevent what he called "malicious or incorrect labeling."

    NYT > Home Page By DAVID SEGAL 2011

  • Black then filed a $5-million lawsuit for what he called "malicious, reckless and abusive efforts" to stop the project.

    CBC | Top Stories News 2011

  • Peter Hughes, and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett - over what he calls a malicious prosecution.

    Radio New Zealand News Headlines 2010

  • Cristo Rey: Keeping Urban Catholic Education Vibrant - Little Village in Chicago The former head of Latino Affairs for Catholic Charities in Chicago is suing two high-ranking priests for what he describes as a malicious campaign to ruin his name and push him out of a new job at the archdiocese.

    HispanicTips Tomas 2010

  • Cristo Rey: Keeping Urban Catholic Education Vibrant - Little Village in Chicago The former head of Latino Affairs for Catholic Charities in Chicago is suing two high-ranking priests for what he describes as a malicious campaign to ruin his name and push him out of a new job at the archdiocese.

    HispanicTips Tomas 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.