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
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of malicious
Included with your subscription is a dedicated IP address, ad and malicious domain blockers and cover on up to 10 devices simultaneously.
—
Rich Owen, Space.com, 8 Jan. 2026
People who live in a society with you and me are putting these tools to malicious uses.
—James Folta, Literary Hub, 8 Jan. 2026
They are charged with motor vehicle theft and several counts of malicious destruction of property.
—Tara Lynch, CBS News, 30 Dec. 2025
Cole is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce with the intent to kill, injure, or intimidate, and attempted malicious destruction by means of fire or explosives.
—Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 30 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malicious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malicious
Adjective
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Officials charged Damon Leanord of Pleasanton, Kansas, with interference with law enforcement, having a vicious dog at large and criminal desecration of a body in Linn County and abandonment of a corpse charges in Bates County, Missouri, after finding the child’s body at the bottom of a creek bed.—
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He was shocked in 2013 when he was struck by vicious bouts of vomiting.—
Adjective
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The forest had taught him that city dwellers could often be regulated by cruel and rather unpredictable codes.—
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That Maduro is a cruel dictator is clear; that Trump intends more than just his arrest (such as taking their oil) is equally clear.—
Adjective
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Thompson, meanwhile, savors every contemptuous glare and hateful retort Anna regularly supplies.—
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At best, both Labour and the Conservatives have spent political capital on an activist who has repeatedly expressed thoughtless and hateful views in public.—
Adjective
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The growth of passive investing, through index funds found in the 401(k) accounts of average Americans, has propped up the stock market while also potentially setting it up for a nasty fall.—
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Instead of this stuff that's raised overseas that's done in ways that doesn't have any checks, that it's got polluted water, it's being fed really nasty stuff, full of antibiotics, full of chemicals.—
Adjective
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Ritter plays Claire, a struggling single mother battling addiction, as a malevolent creature that feeds on despair begins to terrorize her and her two sons.—
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King is said to have had nightmares that night — his son running through endless hallways, pursued by a malevolent presence — inspiring the plot of the famous movie.—
Adjective
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Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington and Andrew Scott play members of the spiteful holy man’s cult of personality.—
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Meester holds her cards close to her chest, leaving us to wonder whether Joanne is being spiteful and shallow (given her trajectory … probably) or whether this woman is really that unbearable.—
Adjective
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According to his official death certificate obtained by PEOPLE, The Middle alum’s death was a result of malignant neoplasm of the bladder, better known as bladder cancer.—
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Trump’s malignant narcissism may be the most powerful tool the Democrats have in their quest to win the White House in 2028.—
Cite this Entry
“Malicious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malicious. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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