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Malicious, Malevolent, and Malice
Malicious and malevolent are close in meaning, since both refer to ill will that desires to see someone else suffer. But while malevolent suggests deep and lasting dislike, malicious usually means petty and spiteful. Malicious gossipers are often simply envious of a neighbor's good fortune. Vandals may take malicious pleasure in destroying and defacing property but usually don't truly hate the owners. Malice is an important legal concept, which has to be proved in order to convict someone of certain crimes such as first-degree murder.
Synonyms
Examples of malice in a Sentence
Garry Trudeau, Time, 12 Feb. 2001
The killer that Capote himself became—far more efficiently than Perry and Dick—when, in poisonous prose and on talk-shows, he laid waste his friends and skewered his competitors with malice as pure as the air in an oxygen tent.
—Molly Haskell, New York Times Book Review, 12 June 1988
It isn't so much courage that I would need, as the patience to endure the grinding malice of bureaucratic harassment.
—Alice Walker, Living by the Word, 1981
No doubt his natural floridity of face encouraged whispers, and partisan malice exaggerated them; but during the eighteen-thirties he certainly drank enough to invite the solicitude of his friends and the gibes of his enemies.
—Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Age of Jackson, 1946
an attack motivated by pure malice
She claimed that her criticisms were without malice.
Melissa A. Wheeler, Forbes, 27 Feb. 2024
The celebrations of the killing by Israel’s political leaders; the fantastic schemes for the removal of Palestinians to Sinai, or Europe, or Congo; the public figures signing bombs to be dropped on what’s left of Gaza; the gleeful recordings made by individual soldiers—all combine malice and mirth.
—Seyward Darby, Longreads, 8 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for malice 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'malice.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near malice
Cite this Entry
“Malice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/malice. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
Legal Definition
malice
noun
David Kairyscalled also express malice, malice in fact
called also legal malice, malice in law
California Penal Code
Note: Such feelings are usually not an important component of malice in legal consideration unless punitive damages or actual malice is an issue.
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