malice

Definitions

From Latin malitia: mal (bad) + a noun ending = 'the state of being bad.' Malice isn't just feeling bad toward someone — it's the active wish to cause them harm. That's why the law speaks of acting 'with malice.'

Common Collocations

• 1.with malice aforethought蓄意预谋
• 2.bear malice怀有恶意
• 3.out of malice出于恶意
• 4.no malice intended并无恶意

Example Sentences

• 1.

  She bore him no malice despite the years of conflict.

• 2.

  The email was clearly written with malice, meant to humiliate.

• 3.

  He was charged with murder with malice aforethought.

Easily Confused

malice vs spite — both are ill will, but spite is petty and personal (refusing to help out of spite), while malice is graver and often deliberate, with a legal edge (malice aforethought). You key someone's car out of spite; you plot their ruin out of malice.

Synonym Comparison