as in malice
the desire to cause pain for the satisfaction of doing harm
the maliciousness of some Internet trolls led the editor to start moderating comments on the site
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for maliciousness
Noun
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But on Wednesday, the jury in the latest trial found that MGA had not acted with malice, meaning no punitive damages would be awarded.
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The company’s own investigation points less to malice than to a process that never engaged.
Noun
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Public Luxury is less a dissertation on those tenets than an emotional response to the struggle to achieve it—mouths dripping with venom, eyes swollen with tears, hearts heavy with love.
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One common misconception is that lionfish are inedible because of their venom.
Cite this Entry
“Maliciousness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/maliciousness. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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