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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Maliciousness

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
maliciousness

mid-15c., from malicious + -ness.\n

Wiktionary
maliciousness

n. The condition of being malicious; malevolence or malice

WordNet
maliciousness

n. feeling a need to see others suffer [syn: malice, spite, spitefulness, venom]

Usage examples of "maliciousness".

It was all muckraking and lies and maliciousness, actual or otherwise, provable or not.

It says that those who turn themselves over to the devil to work his evil ways are “filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

She was dry and sober to the point of maliciousness, but her sober-mindedness went hand in hand with an imagination unbridled in everything to do with superstition.