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.
"We are worried that some malicious circles want to destroy the relations between two neighbouring countries," the minister added, without elaborating.
From Barron's
And now that web browsers are getting AI assistants, these bad actors can hide malicious instructions into webpages designed to steer the AI helpers off course.
Two days before his retirement last year, Mr Rose was served gross misconduct papers by the force, the timing of which he described as "malicious".
From BBC
Having never signed up for this sad charade, malicious compliance is one of the few weapons she has.
From Salon
But when it was less clear that a link was malicious, PC users were more likely than the phone users to click on it.
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.
