malicious

[muh-lish-uh s] /məˈlɪʃ əs/

adjective

full of, characterized by, or showing malice; malevolent; spiteful:

malicious gossip.

Law. vicious, wanton, or mischievous in motivation or purpose.

Origin

1175-1225; Middle English malicius < Old French < Latin malitiōsus. See malice, -ous

Related forms

maliciously, adverb

maliciousness, noun

nonmalicious, adjective

nonmaliciously, adverb

nonmaliciousness, noun

quasi-malicious, adjective

quasi-maliciously, adverb

semimalicious, adjective

semimaliciously, adverb

semimaliciousness, noun

unmalicious, adjective

unmaliciously, adverb

Examples from the web for malicious

Some people are just malicious I suppose.
Tales of actors' career trajectories are informative without being malicious.
The accidental delinquent acts impulsively and without malicious forethought.
These are the types of files that most often contain malicious code.
Sidney, in a fit of malicious mischief, dumped a whole box of detergent into her washer.
If the message is malicious, you will find your computer infected by a virus.
It's disrespectful, although I don't feel it's malicious on their part.
Analysis of the company's computers ruled out the possibility of a malicious insider.
Disinformation is malicious, and is designed to protect and increase industry profits at the expense of sane public policy.
Some enterprising hackers have injected malicious software code into user comments and ads with links to popular e-commerce sites.

British Dictionary definitions for malicious

malicious

/məˈlɪʃəs/

adjective

characterized by malice

motivated by wrongful, vicious, or mischievous purposes

Derived Forms

maliciously, adverb
maliciousness, noun

Word Origin and History for malicious

adj.

early 13c., from Old French malicios "showing ill will, spiteful, wicked" (Modern French malicieux), from Latin malitiosus "wicked, malicious," from malitia "badness, ill will, spite," from malus "bad" (see mal-). In legal use (early 14c., Anglo-French), it means "characterized by malice prepense."