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1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
malice
    n 1: feeling a need to see others suffer [syn: malice,
         maliciousness, spite, spitefulness, venom]
    2: the quality of threatening evil [syn: malevolence,
       malevolency, malice]

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
malice \mal"ice\ (m[a^]l"[i^]s), n. [F. malice, fr. L. malitia,
   from malus bad, ill, evil, prob. orig., dirty, black; cf. Gr.
   me`las black, Skr. mala dirt. Cf. Mauger.]
   1. 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." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Envy, hatred, and malice are three distinct passions
            of the mind.                          --Ld. Holt.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. (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.
      [1913 Webster]

   Malice aforethought or Malice prepense, malice previously
      and deliberately entertained.
      [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Spite; ill will; malevolence; grudge; pique; bitterness;
        animosity; malignity; maliciousness; rancor; virulence.

   Usage: 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.
          [1913 Webster]

                Proud tyrants who maliciously destroy
                And ride o'er ruins with malignant joy.
                                                  --Somerville.
          [1913 Webster]

                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.                        --Cogan.
          [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Malice \Mal"ice\, v. t.
   To regard with extreme ill will. [Obs.]
   [1913 Webster]

4. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
MALICE, torts. The doing any act injurious to another without a just cause. 
     2. This term, as applied to torts, does not necessarily mean that which 
must proceed from a spiteful, malignant, or revengeful disposition, but a 
conduct injurious to another, though proceeding from an ill-regulated mind 
not sufficiently cautious before it occasions an injury to another. 11 S. & 
R. 39, 40. 
     3. Indeed in some cases it seems not to require any intention in order 
to make an act malicious. When a slander has been published, therefore, the 
proper question for the jury is, not whether the intention of the 
publication was to injure the plaintiff, but whether the tendency of the 
matter published, was so injurious. 10 B. & C. 472: S. C. 21 E. C. L. R. 
117. 
     4. Again, take the common case of an offensive trade, the melting of 
tallow for instance; such trade is not itself unlawful, but if carried on to 
the annoyance of the neighboring dwellings, it becomes unlawful with respect 
to them, and their inhabitants may maintain an action, and may charge the 
act of the defendant to be malicious. 3 B. & C. 584; S. C. 10 E. C. L. R. 
179. 



5. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
MALICE, crim. law. A wicked intention to do an injury. 4 Mason, R. 115, 505: 
1 Gall. R. 524. It is not confined to the intention of doing an injury to 
any particular person, but extends to an evil design, a corrupt and wicked 
notion against some one at the time of committing the crime; as, if A 
intended to poison B, conceals a quantity of poison in an apple and puts it 
in the way of B, and C, against whom he had no ill will, and who, on the 
contrary, was his friend, happened to eat it, and die, A will be guilty of 
murdering C with malice aforethought. Bac. Max. Reg. 15; 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 
727; 3 Chit. Cr. Law,. 1104. 
     2. Malice is express or implied. It is express, when the party evinces 
an intention to commit the crime, as to kill a man; for example, modern 
duelling. 3 Bulst. 171. It is implied, when an officer of justice is killed 
in the discharge of his duty, or when death occurs in the prosecution of 
some unlawful design. 
     3. It is a general rule that when a man commits an act, unaccompanied 
by any circumstance justifying its commission, the law presumes he has acted 
advisedly and with an intent to produce the consequences which have ensued. 
3 M. & S. 15; Foster, 255; 1 Hale, P. C. 455; 1 East, P. C. 223 to 232, and 
340; Russ. & Ry. 207; 1 Moody, C. C. 263; 4 Bl. Com. 198; 15 Vin. Ab. 506; 
Yelv. 105 a; Bac. Ab. Murder and Homicide, C 2. Malice aforethought is 
deliberate premeditation. Vide Aforethought. 



Thesaurus Results for Malice:

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
Anglophobia, Russophobia, abhorrence, abomination, animosity, animus, antagonism, anti-Semitism, antipathy, aversion, bane, belligerence, bigotry, bile, bitchiness, bitterness, clash, clashing, collision, conflict, contention, cussedness, despite, despitefulness, detestation, devilment, devilry, deviltry, dislike, down, enmity, evil intent, execration, friction, grudge, harmfulness, hate, hatefulness, hatred, hostility, ill will, iniquitousness, invidiousness, loathing, maleficence, malevolence, malice aforethought, malice prepense, maliciousness, malignance, malignancy, malignity, meanness, misandry, misanthropy, misogyny, nastiness, noxiousness, odium, orneriness, poison, quarrelsomeness, race hatred, racism, repugnance, resentment, spite, spitefulness, spleen, umbrage, venom, vials of hate, vials of wrath, wickedness, xenophobia
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