as in venom
the desire to cause pain for the satisfaction of doing harm
there was no reason other than pure malice to spread such disgusting lies all over campus
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of malice
Plaintiffs also can seek punitive damages if malice, fraud, knowledge or willful avoidance can be proven.
—
Ted Johnson, Deadline, 21 May 2025
As to the media statements, Cook could not offer adequate proof of one element ― malice ― and so could not make out a prima facie case for defamation as to the media statements.
—Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025
The actress, however, bore no malice, moving to Europe until her death from a brain tumor in 2011, aged 58.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 14 May 2025
In February 2022, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected Palin's claims in a ruling issued while a jury deliberated, saying Palin had failed to show that the Times had acted out of malice, something required in libel lawsuits involving public figures.
—CBS News, 22 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malice
Ted Johnson, Deadline, 21 May 2025
As to the media statements, Cook could not offer adequate proof of one element ― malice ― and so could not make out a prima facie case for defamation as to the media statements.
—Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025
The actress, however, bore no malice, moving to Europe until her death from a brain tumor in 2011, aged 58.
—Damon Wise, Deadline, 14 May 2025
In February 2022, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected Palin's claims in a ruling issued while a jury deliberated, saying Palin had failed to show that the Times had acted out of malice, something required in libel lawsuits involving public figures.
—CBS News, 22 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for malice
Recent Examples of Synonyms for malice
Noun
-
They are mangled, bottled spiders of venom with humor and cutting, biting Irish lyricism.—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
5 June 2025
-
Although the snakes prefer to hide or scare away humans, people who get too close may suffer a painful bite carrying venom that can damage muscle tissue and skin.—
Max Levy,
Denver Post,
31 May 2025
Noun
-
There is a strong sense of hatred toward Netanyahu, whose calls for the Iranian public to take this opportunity to rise up and overthrow their leaders are seemingly falling flat.—
NBC News,
NBC news,
19 June 2025
-
Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred.—
Ted Johnson,
Deadline,
16 June 2025
Noun
-
There will always be injustice, cruelty and abuses of power.—
Starr Bowenbank,
People.com,
13 June 2025
-
But by holding the threat of losing access to your grandchildren over you, your kids are showing an unnecessary amount of cruelty to people (you) who don’t deserve it.—
Eric Thomas,
The Orlando Sentinel,
13 June 2025
Noun
-
Yet in spite of its rather hurried origins, it’s gone on to become a General Motors success story in the quarter-century since it was created.—
Will Sabel Courtney,
Robb Report,
17 June 2025
-
But in spite of these conservative voices, Congressional passage of the big, beautiful bill is very likely.—
Richard McGahey,
Forbes.com,
16 June 2025
Noun
-
The filmmakers know exactly how to leverage Hawkins’s warm, naturalistic screen presence, using her offbeat sweetness to keep the audience guessing as to her character’s exact level of malevolence.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
30 May 2025
-
In the room with us in Valencia, the dolls eyes’ are hypnotic, carrying a trace of malevolence.—
Joshua Rothkopf,
Los Angeles Times,
14 May 2025
Noun
-
The hostility of the state intensified with the BBC's 100 Women list, and a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.—
Mahrang Baloch,
Time,
10 June 2025
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Intense hostility all around means that for now, neither Russia nor China is even willing to sit down to discuss nuclear restraints, in treaty form or otherwise.—
Matthew Bunn,
The Conversation,
6 June 2025
Noun
-
His Cyrano is the play’s hero, even if the character’s psychological limitations are as much a factor in the story as the machinations of De Guiche, whose malignity is sent up in Nathanson’s flamboyantly comic turn.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Sep. 2024
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For a decade, the central drama of Trumpism has concerned the Republican élites who continued to support him—the story has been about their malignity, or opportunism, or willful moral blindness.—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
The New Yorker,
16 Sep. 2023
Cite this Entry
“Malice.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/malice. Accessed 26 Jun. 2025.
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