ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsMmalicious
ISEE/SSATmedium
malicious
Meaning: intending to do harm or cause distress to others
malicious in a sentence
How malicious is used in real sentences:
Someone spread malicious rumors about the new manager before she even started.
The hacker's malicious code was designed to quietly erase every file on the school's shared server.
“Yet the ocean is not malicious; its crushing force comes from physics, not hostility.”
— from the passage The Long Descent
Synonyms for malicious
Other words for malicious — spiteful, vindictive and malevolent — carry the same meaning.
- spiteful
- vindictive
- malevolent
Antonyms of malicious
Words that mean the opposite of malicious:
- kind
- benevolent
- friendly
Where it comes from
From Latin malus 'bad' via malitia 'badness'
Word parts
- mal — bad, evil
malicious: mal (bad) + -icious (full of)
Memory hook
MAL (bad) + ICIOUS — full of bad intent.