Bad
Bad adjective - Falling short of a standard.
Malicious
Malicious adjective - Having or showing a desire to cause someone pain or suffering for the sheer enjoyment of it.
Usage example: the neighborhood chatterbox has again been spreading malicious gossip
Bad is a synonym for malicious in wicked topic. Sometimes you can use "Bad" instead an adjective "Malicious". slang substitute
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
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He's selfish, sulky, greedy and with an ego the size of a planet, but he's not ultimately a bad or malicious person.
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Bad news is of course hard to tell to other people (unless someone is feeling malicious), which means it's preferable in those circumstances to try to break the news as gently as possible.
Source: Breaking Bad News Gently -
In the show every bad thing is the result of a malicious conspiracy on the part of agents of the government.
Source: Series / Blindspot
Cite this Source
Malicious and Bad. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/bad/malicious
Bad & Malicious. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/bad/malicious>.
Malicious or Bad. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/bad/malicious.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "bad" and "malicious" have occurred on timeline