malice

[mal-is]

See more synonyms for malice on Thesaurus.com

noun

desire to inflict injury, harm, or suffering on another, either because of a hostile impulse or out of deep-seated meanness: the malice and spite of a lifelong enemy.
Law. evil intent on the part of a person who commits a wrongful act injurious to others.

Origin of malice

1250–1300; Middle English < Old French < Latin malitia. See mal-, -ice

Synonyms for malice

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1. ill will, spite, spitefulness; animosity, enmity; malevolence; venom, hate, hatred; bitterness, rancor. See grudge.

Antonyms for malice

1. benevolence, goodwill.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for malice

grudge, enmity, hostility, bitterness, resentment, animus, meanness, antipathy, animosity, rancor, hatred, mordacity, umbrage, spite, malevolence, venom, poison, maliciousness, acerbity, dislike

Examples from the Web for malice

Contemporary Examples of malice

It was a review of Lady Macbeth, and it dripped with malice.
When Stalin Met Lady Macbeth
Brian Moynahan
November 9, 2014
Polish them until they gleam with malice, wicked glee, and non-registry gifts.
The First-World Anarchist’s Guide to Weddings
Kelly Williams Brown
May 31, 2014
Why does Rivers' joke have the sting of deliberate shock without any of the other joke's malice?
Can the Holocaust be Funny?
Tom Doran
April 6, 2013
What came out instead was the opposite: mean-spirited, nasty, laced with malice and threat.
You’re Over, Lance Armstrong
Buzz Bissinger
January 18, 2013
When I was pondering shooting up my school, I rarely thought of doing it out of malice against the other students.
I Was Adam Lanza, Part 3
David Frum
December 23, 2012

Historical Examples of malice

But Fortune had not yet exhausted her malice against the hapless Athenians.
Stories from Thucydides
H. L. Havell
At least, release my gentle sister, and pour out all your malice on me.
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper
You seem to come like my own anger, my own malice, my own—whatever it is—I don't know what it is.
Little Dorrit
Charles Dickens
You can do that without forgiving me, if you still bear me malice.
Life And Adventures Of Martin Chuzzlewit
Charles Dickens
Now to the charges which malice and misrepresentation have brought against me.
The Letters of Robert Burns
Robert Burns

British Dictionary definitions for malice

malice

noun

the desire to do harm or mischief
evil intent
law the state of mind with which an act is committed and from which the intent to do wrong may be inferredSee also malice aforethought

Word Origin for malice

C13: via Old French from Latin malitia, from malus evil

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for malice

c.1300, "desire to hurt another," from Old French malice "ill will, spite, sinfulness, wickedness" (12c.), from Latin malitia "badness, ill will, spite," from malus "bad" (see mal-). In legal use, "wrongful intent generally" (1540s).