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
He was arrested on charges of burglary, obstruction, assault and battery on a police officer, cruelty and interfering with a police dog, and malicious injury to property, police said.
—
Paloma Chavez, Kansas City Star, 30 Jan. 2025
The attackers host malicious code on their own account located at attacker.square.site.
—Ars Technica, 28 Jan. 2025
The man was arrested and booked into Santa Clara County jail on misdemeanor hate crime and malicious obstruction charges.
—Jason Green, The Mercury News, 28 Jan. 2025
Ultimately, the debate over the ability of malicious hackers to trigger a continent-wide blackout is moot and a distraction from the issue that really matters.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 23 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for malicious 
Paloma Chavez, Kansas City Star, 30 Jan. 2025
The attackers host malicious code on their own account located at attacker.square.site.
—Ars Technica, 28 Jan. 2025
The man was arrested and booked into Santa Clara County jail on misdemeanor hate crime and malicious obstruction charges.
—Jason Green, The Mercury News, 28 Jan. 2025
Ultimately, the debate over the ability of malicious hackers to trigger a continent-wide blackout is moot and a distraction from the issue that really matters.
—Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 23 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for malicious
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malicious
Adjective
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The fans were on their feet and roaring after UCLA center Mara threw an outlet pass reminiscent of legendary predecessor Bill Walton to Eric Dailey Jr. for a vicious one-handed dunk.—
Houston Mitchell,
Los Angeles Times,
31 Jan. 2025
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Kevon Looney matched his regular season career-high with 18 points and Gary Payton II (15 points, nine rebounds) stamped the game with a vicious slam dunk with under a minute left.—
Danny Emerman,
The Mercury News,
30 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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But his cruel divisiveness is deflecting attention from the main event.—
Robert B. Reich,
Hartford Courant,
29 Jan. 2025
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Banek has requested the Illinois Department of Public Health probe the cruel death, also asking that all evidence associated with the case be preserved.—
Charles Selle,
Chicago Tribune,
29 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 trailers show the girls in both the past and present timelines growing increasingly unhinged and the writers have promised us that this season will only get nastier.—
Savannah Salazar,
Vulture,
1 Feb. 2025
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Name calling, workplace gossip, nasty nicknames—the list of bad outcomes is virtually infinite.—
Andrew Couts,
WIRED,
27 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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Share [Findings] Unaffiliated voters are growing more spiteful toward both Democrats and Republicans.—
Rafil Kroll-Zaidi,
Harper's Magazine,
22 Jan. 2025
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Iannucci may spin stories of spiteful people, but Iannucci the person is different.—
John Baldoni,
Forbes,
22 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Indeed, the technology is transforming so quickly that organizations may not even recognize potential threats or vulnerabilities until they are exposed in a malignant fashion.—
Dr. Sai Balasubramanian, M.D., J.D.,
Forbes,
10 Jan. 2025
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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
Thesaurus Entries Near malicious
Cite this Entry
“Malicious.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malicious. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
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