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malice aforethought
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noun Law.
a predetermination to commit an unlawful act without just cause or provocation (applied chiefly to cases of first-degree murder).
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“Was” is used for the indicative past tense of “to be,” and “were” is only used for the subjunctive past tense.
Also called malice prepense .
Origin of malice aforethought
First recorded in 1660–70
Words nearby malice aforethought
Malibran, Malibu board, malic, malic acid, malice, malice aforethought, malicious, malicious mischief, maliciousness, Mali empire, malign
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use malice aforethought in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for malice aforethought
malice aforethought
noun criminal law
the predetermination to do an unlawful act, esp to kill or seriously injure
the intent with which an unlawful killing is effected, which must be proved for the crime to constitute murderSee also murder, manslaughter
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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