adjective
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characterized by malice
-
motivated by wrongful, vicious, or mischievous purposes
Other Word Forms
- maliciously adverb
- maliciousness noun
- nonmalicious adjective
- nonmaliciously adverb
- semimalicious adjective
- semimaliciously adverb
- unmalicious adjective
- unmaliciously adverb
Etymology
Origin of malicious
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English malicius, from Old French, from Latin malitiōsus; malice, -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In a statement, they said Russia has been "pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work".
From BBC
The worry isn’t so much that AI will replace cybersecurity tools; rather, malicious actors will use AI to get through the security systems.
From Barron's
The FBI said it was aware of "malicious actors" targeting Patel's email information.
From BBC
A man from Brighton, aged 38, and a man from Saltdean, aged 42, were arrested the same day on suspicion of malicious communications.
From BBC
The ban stems from growing concern over the last year that routers were a point of easy-access for malicious actors.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
