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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
malicious
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a malicious rumour (=a false one that someone spreads to make trouble)
▪ The claims were dismissed by the government as ‘malicious rumours’.
malicious gossip (=unkind gossip that is likely to upset someone)
▪ Has someone been spreading malicious gossip?
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
damage
▪ Turning a blind eye to his presence was one thing, he said, but being party to malicious damage quite another.
▪ The possibility of malicious damage should be considered, i.e. computer hacking and viruses.
▪ Their motives were seen as malicious damage or play rather than mental disorder or the settling of grudges.
▪ The current law of malicious damage produced far too erratic and uncertain results.
▪ Only one case of obvious malicious damage was noted.
falsehood
▪ He described the article as grossly defamatory ... and said the case contained the essentials of a malicious falsehood action.
▪ In malicious falsehood the aggrieved, in this case Miss Joyce, must show the Today's comments are false.
▪ Grappelli had to be content with an action for malicious falsehood.
▪ The action for malicious falsehood is much less favourable to plaintiffs than defamation.
▪ Firstly, legal aid is not available for libel, but it may be granted for malicious falsehood.
gossip
▪ Jotan's daughter, the sister of Jehan, was the source of as much malicious gossip as he was himself.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
malicious rumors
▪ Miss Simms took a malicious pleasure in other people's misfortunes.
▪ Mr Jameson dismissed the allegations as malicious rumours.
▪ Nixon's family called Stone's depiction of the late President ''erroneous and malicious.''
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And she specially enjoyed the extra malicious thrill of her husband's frustration.
▪ And why does he stay so long, even as the festivities turn malicious?
▪ Bored dowagers with wisps snuggling on the shoulders, whispering flattery and malicious rumour in their perfectly sculpted ears.
▪ One of the major flaws in the existing system is that the prosecutor has immunity from law suits claiming malicious prosecution.
▪ People are still malicious because they are miserable.
▪ This malicious suggestion drove Cephalus mad with jealousy.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Malicious

Malicious \Ma*li"cious\, a. [Of. malicius, F. malicieux, fr. L. malitiosus. See Malice.]

  1. Indulging or exercising malice; harboring ill will or enmity.

    I grant him bloody, . . . Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name.
    --Shak.

  2. Proceeding from hatred or ill will; dictated by malice; as, a malicious report; malicious mischief.

  3. (Law) With wicked or mischievous intentions or motives; wrongful and done intentionally without just cause or excuse; as, a malicious act.

    Malicious abandonment, the desertion of a wife or husband without just cause.
    --Burrill.

    Malicious prosecution or Malicious arrest (Law), a wanton prosecution or arrest, by regular process in a civil or criminal proceeding, without probable cause.
    --Bouvier.

    Syn: Ill-disposed; evil-minded; mischievous; envious; malevolent; invidious; spiteful; bitter; malignant; rancorous; malign. [1913 Webster] -- Ma*li"cious*ly, adv. -- Ma*li"cious*ness, n.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
malicious

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."

Wiktionary
malicious

a. 1 Of, pertaining to, or as a result of malice or spite 2 spiteful and deliberately harmful

WordNet
malicious
  1. adj. having the nature of or resulting from malice; "malicious gossip"; "took malicious pleasure in...watching me wince"- Rudyard Kipling [ant: unmalicious]

  2. wishing or appearing to wish evil to others; arising from intense ill will or hatred; "a gossipy malevolent old woman"; "failure made him malevolent toward those who were successful" [syn: malevolent] [ant: benevolent]

Wikipedia
Malicious (1995 film)

Malicious is a 1995 Canadian-American thriller film starring Molly Ringwald and Patrick McGaw. The plot follows a star college baseball player (McGaw) who has a fling with a disturbed medical student (Ringwald) who begins to stalk him.

The film's main character has been discussed by psychiatrists and film experts, and has been used as a film illustration for the psychiatric entity known as borderline personality disorder.

Malicious

Malicious may refer to:

Malicious (1973 film)

Malicious is an Italian comedy. The original title Malizia is Italian for "malice". It was entered into the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival. For their performances Laura Antonelli and Turi Ferro won the Silver Ribbons for best actress and best supporting actor.

Malicious (video game)

is a download-only 3D action game developed and published by Alvion for the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita. Malicious was released on October 27, 2010 and is available to download from PlayStation Store in Japan. Because of the game's critical success, an enhanced port of the game was announced for the PlayStation Vita entitled Malicious Rebirth, featuring a new “Rebirth” chapter with new levels, new bosses and new moves.

Malicious (horse)

Malicious (foaled 1927) was a Thoroughbred race horse sired by the winner of the 1917 Kentucky Derby, Omar Khayyam, out of Ridicule (by Black Jester). He began racing at the age of two and continued to compete until he was thirteen years old. During that time, he made 185 starts on virtually every race track in California as well as Mexico's Agua Caliente Racetrack. He won 32 times.

Malicious was an $800 claimer. Owned by Mrs. E. Turk, he was trained for several years by Lonnie Coperhaver, known as the "King of the Gypsies." Malicious was a closer who often came from far back to win. People started calling him " America's Two-Mile Champion," and then the press discovered him. Running at the same time as Seabiscuit, Malicious was also the center of adoring fans. He made a personal appearance at San Francisco's 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, had people promoting merchandise in his name, and was interviewed on the radio. To ensure that people would stay for a full day's racing, Santa Anita race track would include a two-miler as its last race of the day for Malicious to run in.

Morton Cathro, a retired newspaperman, wrote of seeing Malicious in the last days of his career: "As a teenager in the autumn of 1939, this writer witnessed a series of Saturday marathons at Bay Meadows for top routers. Old Malicious showed up for the Nov. 11 finale, the four-mile Thornton Stakes. The weary road warrior, who hadn't started since that spring at Santa Anita, made his patented late surge to gain fourth in a blanket finish. That was his final race in the U.S. On Jan. 28, 1940, at age 13, one of the toughest iron horses of all time closed out his gallant career—a marathon in itself—by running second at Agua Caliente. His final paycheck was $100; his legacy, a claimer's place in the pantheon of sound, stout-hearted stakes horses—and in the hearts of a devoted public."

Malicious earned a total of $14,755.

Usage examples of "malicious".

I have spoken to Lebel about your pretty housekeeper: the worthy man had no malicious intent in sending her to you.

Such is often the reward of virtue here below, but the malicious persons who had tried to injure Donna Pelliccia by calumniating her to the king were the means of making her fortune.

I looked out of the corner of my eye at the malicious widow, who said nothing but seemed deep in thought.

And the two seemed more positive, less critical of Trenae, though they both still behaved with malicious intent.

Walking up, step-by-step, closer, closer, he gave Trenae a malicious, determined stare.

This woman was a widow, aged between thirty and forty years, of a jaundiced complexion, and a piercing and malicious aspect.

I sadly thought I should have to go away to be cured, to avoid the gossip of malicious wits.

I have confided in her, and she promised me that when I felt the pangs coming on she would give that malicious woman a sporific, and thus we should be freed from all fears of her.

I suffered a martyrdom, for these compliments seemed to be given with malicious intent.

She was an ugly woman, and though she was really very good-natured, she assumed the character of being malicious so as to obtain some consideration.

I can use my experience to help others avoid the efforts of the malicious information thieves of the world.

Slang for malicious software, a computer program, such as a virus, worm, or Trojan Horse, that performs damaging tasks.

But the developers of certain tools once used by the hacking community, which are now being freely distributed or sold as security-related software, are nonetheless treated as malicious code.

In addition, you must train employees against the danger of being deceived into downloading a program, or opening an email attachment that could install malicious software.

What these two students did as a malicious prank could just as easily have been done by a professional industrial spy, perhaps in the pay of a competitor, or perhaps in the pay of a foreign government.