MALICE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Malice

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/mˈæləs/ /mˈælɪs/ Listen

noun

malice n.

Enmity of heart; malevolence; ill will; a spirit delighting in harm or misfortune to another; a disposition to injure another; a malignant design of evil. "Nor set down aught in malice." "Envy, hatred, and malice are three distinct passions of the mind."

(Law) Any wicked or mischievous intention of the mind; a depraved inclination to mischief; an intention to vex, annoy, or injure another person, or to do a wrongful act without just cause or cause or excuse; a wanton disregard of the rights or safety of others; willfulness.

Malice aforethought or Malice prepense, malice previously and deliberately entertained.

Synonyms: Spite; ill will; malevolence; grudge; pique; bitterness; animosity; malignity; maliciousness; rancor; virulence. See Spite. Malevolence, Malignity, Malignancy. Malice is a stronger word than malevolence, which may imply only a desire that evil may befall another, while malice desires, and perhaps intends, to bring it about. Malignity is intense and deepseated malice. It implies a natural delight in hating and wronging others. One who is malignant must be both malevolent and malicious; but a man may be malicious without being malignant. "Proud tyrants who maliciously destroy And ride o'er ruins with malignant joy." "in some connections, malignity seems rather more pertinently applied to a radical depravity of nature, and malignancy to indications of this depravity, in temper and conduct in particular instances."

verb

Malice v. t. To regard with extreme ill will. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Malice'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Malice" Quotes from Famous Books

... have been malice—it certainly must have been want of thought—that induced Aunt Martha to break the temporary silence with the remark, ...

— Shoulder-Straps - A Novel of New York and the Army, 1862 • Henry Morford

... in haste soon hint[20] it by the hair, Syne out again at him he could it cast, Into his heart he greatly was aghast. Right well he trow'd that was no sprite of man, It was some devil, that sic[21] malice began. He wist no wale[22] there longer for to bide. Up through the hall thus wight Wallace can glide, To a close stair, the boards they rave[23] in twin,[24] Fifteen foot large he lap out of that inn. Up the water he suddenly could fare, ...

— Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Complete • George Gilfillan

... "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness to do the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve ...

— Introduction to Non-Violence • Theodore Paullin

... is the breast-plate fortitude Should still to injury oppose; It is the shield with power imbu'd, To blunt the malice of his foes. ...

— Poems • Matilda Betham

... impulse of the moment a man proceeds to make love, he generally does it up ship-shape; but if he, with malice aforethought, lays deliberate plans, he finds it the most awkward traverse to work in the world to follow them—but I did not know this. I sat by the table, and in my embarrassment kept pushing the solitary taper farther and farther from me, until at last ...

— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848 • Various

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