malice

Etymology

From Middle English malice, borrowed from Old French malice, from Latin malitia (“badness, bad quality, ill-will, spite”), from malus (“bad”).

noun

1. Intention to harm or deprive in an illegal or immoral way. Desire to take pleasure in another's misfortune.
   […] not only was there no gratitude (which he could psychologically handle) but downright malice showed itself instead. 1981, Philip K. Dick, Valis, page 67
2. (law) An intention to do injury to another party, which in many jurisdictions is a distinguishing factor between the crimes of murder and manslaughter.
   The question that would have been before the jury was whether Fox committed “actual malice” in airing the claims. That required Dominion to show whether key decision makers were aware the claims were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. 2023-04-18, Sam Levine, Kira Lerner, “Fox and Dominion settle for US$787.5m in defamation lawsuit over election lies”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

verb

1. To intend to cause harm; to bear malice.
   Thou blinded God (quod I) forgive me this offence, / Unwittingly I went about, to malice thy pretence. 1557, Henry Howard, “Complaint of a lover that defied Love and was by Love after the more tormented”, in Songes and Sonettes
   I am so far from malicing their states, / That I begin to pity 'em. 1599, Ben Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour, act 5, scene 2
   A feeble spirited king that governed, / Who ill could guide the sceptre he did use; / His enemies, that his worth maliced, / Who both the land and him did much abuse: / The peoples love; and his apparent right, May seem sufficient motives to incite. 1609, Samuel Daniel, The History of the Civil Wars, book 5, verse 48
   Here's a list of side effects / Practice tested / Covering every maliced angle / For example: / You will sleep forever / You will never sleep again 1995, Fugazi (lyrics and music), “Fell, Destroyed”, in Red Medicine, performed by Guy Picciotto
   Robert Truswell may have been a belligerent and malicing man, a jury heard this morning during the trial of George Kieran Daunt. 2005-05-03, “'He was a mess,' woman says of accused”, in The Whitehorse Star
   I haven't maliced anybody, definitely not. I never used to have friends like that. I had a few who I thought were friends. Even if you have friends, things happen and friendship break up, but you move on. But I still talk to everybody. 2018-05-14, Kimberley Small, quoting Marion Hall, “Dancehall was contentious, says Marion Hall”, in The Jamaica Star