Adjacent Words

Malicious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MALI'CIOUS, a. Harboring ill will or enmity without provocation; malevolent in the extreme; malignant in heart.
I grant him bloody,
Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin
That has a name.
1. Proceeding from extreme hatred or ill will; dictated by malice; as a malicious report.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having the nature of or resulting from malice; "malicious gossip"; "took malicious pleasure in...watching me wince"- Rudyard Kipling [ant: unmalicious]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 13th century given to, marked by, or arising from malice <malicious gossip> • maliciously adverb • maliciousness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm. Derivatives: maliciously adv. maliciousness n. Etymology: OF malicius f. L malitiosus (as MALICE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Malicious Ma*li"cious, a. [Of. malicius, F. malicieux, fr. L. malitiosus. See Malice.] 1. Indulging or exercising malice; harboring ill will or enmity. I grant him bloody, . . . Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name. --Shak. 2. Proceeding from hatred or ill will; dictated by malice; as, a malicious report; malicious mischief. 3. (Law)With wicked or mischievous intentions or motives; wrongful and done intentionally without just cause or excuse; as, a malicious act. Malicious abandonment, the desertion of a wife or husband without just cause. --Burrill. Malicious mischief (Law), malicious injury to the property of another; -- an offense at common law. --Wharton. Malicious prosecution or arrest (Law), a wanton prosecution or arrest, by regular process in a civil or criminal proceeding, without probable cause. --Bouvier. Syn: Ill-disposed; evil-minded; mischievous; envious; malevolent; invidious; spiteful; bitter; malignant; rancorous; malign. -- Ma*li"cious*ly, adv. -- Ma*li"cious*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe someone's words or actions as malicious, you mean that they are intended to harm people or their reputation, or cause them embarrassment and upset. That might merely have been malicious gossip... ADJ • maliciously ...his maliciously accurate imitation of Hubert de Burgh. ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV adj

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Malevolent, malignant, spiteful, ill-disposed, ill-natured, evil-minded, mischievous, resentful, bitter, rancorous, envious, invidious.

Moby Thesaurus

acrid, antagonistic, antipathetic, baleful, baneful, belligerent, bitchy, bitter, catty, caustic, clashing, colliding, conflicting, cussed, deleterious, despiteful, detrimental, envious, evil, full of hate, green, green-eyed, harmful, hateful, hostile, iniquitous, invidious, jealous, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, noxious, ornery, pernicious, petty, poison-pen, poisonous, quarrelsome, rancorous, repugnant, set against, sore, spiteful, venomous, vicious, virulent, vitriolic, wicked