adjective
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characterized by malice
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motivated by wrongful, vicious, or mischievous purposes
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of malicious
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English malicius, from Old French, from Latin malitiōsus; see malice, -ous
Explanation
Someone who is malicious enjoys hurting or embarrassing others. If you're writing a book about good and evil, you'll want to come up with a truly malicious character to do all the bad stuff. Malicious is the adjective based on the noun malice, which means the desire to harm others. Both words come from the Latin word malus, for bad. If someone is malicious he doesn't just make bad things happen; he loves to make bad things happen.
Vocabulary lists containing malicious
The SAT: Words to Capture Tone, List 2
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Fake It 'Til You Make It: Synonyms for "False"
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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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.
Such claims also require medical reports and paper trails and may entail an uphill struggle to prove malicious intent.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 17, 2026
Nearly 80% of organizations worldwide experienced some form of insider-related data loss by malicious actors or misconfigured AI tools over the past two years, according to cybersecurity firm Fortinet.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 16, 2026
"These claims are entirely false, malicious, and a complete distortion of reality," he adds.
From BBC • Jun. 13, 2026
On AI safety, the G7 countries acknowledged "certain risks" posed by AI and that it "may be misused by malicious actors", committing to "adopting an innovation-friendly approach to addressing these risks".
From Barron's • May 29, 2026
Marcus’s passive mask is gone, revealing the malicious face beneath it.
From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth
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.
