malice
[mal-is]
- 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.
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Origin of malice
Synonyms
See more synonyms for malice on Thesaurus.com1. ill will, spite, spitefulness; animosity, enmity; malevolence; venom, hate, hatred; bitterness, rancor. See grudge.
Antonyms
1. benevolence, goodwill.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for malice
Contemporary Examples
It was a review of Lady Macbeth, and it dripped with malice.
Polish them until they gleam with malice, wicked glee, and non-registry gifts.
Why does Rivers' joke have the sting of deliberate shock without any of the other joke's malice?
What came out instead was the opposite: mean-spirited, nasty, laced with malice and threat.
When I was pondering shooting up my school, I rarely thought of doing it out of malice against the other students.
Historical Examples
But Fortune had not yet exhausted her malice against the hapless Athenians.
Stories from ThucydidesH. L. Havell
At least, release my gentle sister, and pour out all your malice on me.
The Last of the MohicansJames 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 DorritCharles Dickens
You can do that without forgiving me, if you still bear me malice.
Life And Adventures Of Martin ChuzzlewitCharles Dickens
Now to the charges which malice and misrepresentation have brought against me.
The Letters of Robert BurnsRobert Burns
malice
- 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
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for malice
n.
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).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper