malicious

[muh-lish-uhs] / məˈlɪʃ əs /

ADJECTIVE

hateful

Synonyms

STRONGEST

malevolent malignant mischievous nasty pernicious petty spiteful vengeful venomous vicious virulent wicked

WEAK

awful bad-natured baleful beastly bitter catty cussed deleterious despiteful detrimental envious evil evil-minded green green-eyed gross ill-disposed injurious jealous low malign mean noxious ornery poisonous rancorous resentful uncool

Antonyms

STRONGEST

aiding assisting decent forgiving friendly gentle good harmless helpful kind liking loving moral nice pleasant pleasing useful

WEAK

benevolent likeable sympathetic thoughtful

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Plaintiff’s false, malicious, and bad faith statements have wreaked havoc on Ms. Hajdini’s life.”

From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026

The risk of malicious code injection through AI-generated software, she noted, is not unique to any one country.

From Barron's • May 15, 2026

Salieri is malicious and conniving, which Bettany disconcertingly says was very easy to embody.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2026

I guess if I walk through the various checks available—One: criminal charges for malicious prosecution and other kinds of things.

From Slate • May 4, 2026

“And, sir, I’ll need this shrivelfig skinned,” said Malfoy, his voice full of malicious laughter.

From "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban" by J.K. Rowling

Vocabulary lists containing malicious

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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone

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