Make Your Point: MALICE & MALICIOUS

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MALICE & MALICIOUS

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pronounce these words:

For "malice," say "MAL iss." Hear it.

For "malicious," say "muh LISH us." Hear it.

connect these words to others:

In an episode of Firefly, after meeting Captain Malcolm Reynolds, who goes by "Mal," River Tam doesn't trust him. She thinks he might be shady. She tells her brother: "Mal. Bad. In the Latin."

Well, the name Malcolm means "servant, disciple, or devotee of St. Columba" (and not, you know, "a bad or evil St. Columba"), but River's still got a point: When you see a word a word with mal in it, it's a safe bet that it connotes evil, badness, or wrongdoing of some sort.

That's the case with the words we're checking out today, malice and malicious, and the words below. Can you recall each?

1. Something mal_g____ is evil or cancerous.

2. Mal__s_ is a bad feeling of illness or discomfort.

3. Mal____tions are curses, or rude and vulgar comments.

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definitions:

"Malice" and "malicious" trace back through French to the Latin malus, meaning "bad, or unpleasant." We've used them in English for centuries.

Malice is a feeling of wanting to hurt other people on purpose.

And malicious people and things are the kind that want to hurt other people on purpose.

grammatical bits:

Parts of speech:

"Malice" is a noun, the countable kind: "She said it with malice;" "He did it without malice;" "We saw a glint of malice in their eyes."

"Malicious" is an adjective: "malicious people," "malicious software," "Those rumors were malicious."

Other forms:

The only common one is the adverb, "maliciously," as in "He said it maliciously" and "Your project was damaged accidentally, not maliciously."

how to use them:

"Malice" and "malicious" are common, formal words with an extremely negative tone. Pick them when you want to sound serious as you emphasize how people are doing things or saying things with evil or cruelty in their hearts.

You might point out the malice in someone's eyes, face, heart, words, comments, or actions.

Or, you might talk about people's malicious motives, intentions, comments, or actions. You might describe someone's glances, smiles, or laughter as malicious. And if something has been designed by people to do harm, then you can call those things malicious, too, like malicious software, programs, or algorithms.

Because the word "malicious" is usually quite serious, it can be pretty funny if you use it sarcastically or lightheartedly. Here's Gru joking about how he destroyed a book that annoyed him.

(Source)

Consider, too, the lighthearted and mischievous phrase "malicious compliance." That's the act of doing exactly what people asked you to do, even though it'll cause problems for them; or, as Reddit explains, it's "people conforming to the letter, but not the spirit, of a request." Some examples of malicious compliance are "Want me to log my work time more accurately using a timer because you think I'm cheating you? Happy to oblige" and "You want me to drive a 34-ton mixer over a sand dune? Sign here, please."

examples:

"The dragon inhaled and exhaled slowly... The high dead eyelids wrinkled more, the corners of his mouth snaked up as he chuckled, sly, hardly hiding his malice."
— John Gardner, Grendel, 1971

"His phone had been infected with Predator, a malicious spyware program far more invasive than a wiretap."
— Lauren Markham and Lydia Emmanouilidou, New York Times, 26 November 2022

has this page helped you understand "malice" & "malicious"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about these words, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study them:

Explain the meaning of "malice" and "malicious" without saying "cruel" or "harmful."

try one out:

In 1980, the computer programmer Robert J. Hanlon said:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

The idea is known as Hanlon's Razor. It's a popular idea, one that's been expressed by many other speakers and writers over the centuries, as Quote Investigator reports.

Could you explain what Hanlon's Razor means? Why do we sometimes blame people's actions on their malice instead of their stupidity? Why is it beneficial, or compassionate, to assume stupidity rather than malice?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

This month, our game is Botched Songs!

Check out the botched lyrics to a holiday song, and see if you can give me the botched title. It'll include a form of a word we've studied before.

For example, if the real song is "Jingle Bell Rock," then the botched one might be "Jingle Quell Rock." Or if the real song is "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas," then the botched one might be "It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like a Chrysalis."

If you need some clues, highlight them to reveal them. And to see the answer, scroll all the way down. Your answer might be different than mine but just as good. Enjoy!

Try this one today:

I don't want a thing for Christmas.
I'm not Christian anymore.
I don't celebrate this day
By doing things I did before.
Oh, I don't need a thing to own.
What would I want? I don't know.
Don't even need a boot.
All I want for Christmas is _____.
—from "All I Want For Christmas is _____"

Clue 1: The word in the blank means… having no significance anymore to the current situation
Clue 2: The word in the blank starts with the letter… M

Clue 3: The word in the blank sounds like… the word "You," but change the first sound, and make it rhyme with "boot."

review these words:

1. A close opposite of MALICOUS is

A. BENEVOLENT (actively kind and helpful toward other people).
B. AMBIVALENT (feel torn between two opposite choices or feelings).
C. INSOLENT (speaking in a rude, disrespectful, overly familiar way).

2. In The Good Earth, Cuckoo's "eyes sparkled with malice" as she _____.

A. hid a gift in a child's pillowcase
B. threatened to reveal a painful secret
C. sketched a design for a new contraption into the dirt

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MALICE & MALICIOUS

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