as in vicious
having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it
the neighborhood chatterbox has again been spreading malicious gossip
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of malicious
Wilson was an acquaintance of Dakota’s extended family and said her actions were neither planned nor malicious.
—
Amy Lavalley, Chicago Tribune, 17 Jan. 2025
The award doesn’t account for punitive damages, intended to punish particularly malicious conduct, which will push the total higher.
—Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Jan. 2025
The messages often contain links to malicious websites, urging recipients to respond with sensitive information quickly to avoid fees.
—Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025
While conceding that standard phishing methods, those that typically require threat actors to craft malicious emails that are delivered to a wide audience, are relatively easy for email platforms to detect and block, that’s not the case with this phishless attack.
—Davey Winder, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for malicious 
Amy Lavalley, Chicago Tribune, 17 Jan. 2025
The award doesn’t account for punitive damages, intended to punish particularly malicious conduct, which will push the total higher.
—Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Jan. 2025
The messages often contain links to malicious websites, urging recipients to respond with sensitive information quickly to avoid fees.
—Michael Gfoeller and David H. Rundell, Newsweek, 16 Jan. 2025
While conceding that standard phishing methods, those that typically require threat actors to craft malicious emails that are delivered to a wide audience, are relatively easy for email platforms to detect and block, that’s not the case with this phishless attack.
—Davey Winder, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for malicious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malicious
Adjective
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But Canadian model and actress Kat Pasion, whose credits include Altered Carbon, The Flash and Nancy Drew, appears in the ID series to help corroborate the vicious abuse and assaults that Ventura allegedly endured and chronicled in her landmark civil suit.—
Etan Vlessing,
The Hollywood Reporter,
23 Jan. 2025
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Combined with a vicious splitter, which is one of the best in the world right now, Sasaki has proved unstoppable at times.—
Jamie Barton,
CNN,
23 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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And having more thoughtful conversations doesn’t preclude the need sometimes to confront those who are needlessly cruel or organizations that benefit from such exploitation.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
18 Jan. 2025
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In recent months, the Justice Department and the state filed thousands of pages of new records in the lawsuit, including reports and sworn statements from pediatricians, scholars and others who describe Florida’s policies as archaic and cruel.—
Carol Marbin Miller,
Miami Herald,
17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Garvey’s legacy has been complicated, especially due to his sometimes hateful and violent rhetoric against Jews, white people, Catholics, and other groups.—
Brady Knox,
Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government,
19 Jan. 2025
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The settlement, announced by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, requires Rutgers to take a series of actions to combat discrimination on campus after 400 reports of hateful incidents on campus were filed between July 2023 and June 2024.—
Fox News Staff,
Fox News,
16 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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The fight has been particularly nasty, with both sides trading harsh accusations against the other.—
Nicholas Gordon,
Fortune Asia,
20 Jan. 2025
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First Lady Nancy Reagan was upset, thinking her husband was being too nasty.—
George Skelton,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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This malevolent policy was aimed at immigrants by denying them entry or improvement in their immigration status if they were thought likely to access public assistance programs.—
Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times,
15 Jan. 2025
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Trump often goes further, casting the entire administrative state as useless at best and a malevolent, corrupt, anti-American fifth column at worst and pledging to empower business-world titans like Elon Musk to hew through it in search of inefficiency.—
Peter C. Baker,
New York Times,
1 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Iannucci may spin stories of spiteful people, but Iannucci the person is different.—
John Baldoni,
Forbes,
22 Jan. 2025
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Share [Findings] Unaffiliated voters are growing more spiteful toward both Democrats and Republicans.—
Rafil Kroll-Zaidi,
Harper's Magazine,
22 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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The decision, lauded by consumer advocacy groups, comes a full 25 years after scientists at the agency determined that rats fed large amounts of the artificial color additive were much more likely to develop malignant thyroid tumors than rats who weren’t given the food coloring.—
Ryan Fonseca,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Jan. 2025
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Their mother, Noel Mickelson, died in 2016 from sepsis caused by bed sores, and a malignant tumor, according to Shannon Amos.—
Elizabeth Maline,
NBC News,
6 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near malicious
Cite this Entry
“Malicious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malicious. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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