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From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 mal·ice n.
 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.”
    Envy, hatred, and malice are three distinct passions of the mind.   --Ld. Holt.
 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.
 Malice aforethought or Malice prepense, malice previously and deliberately entertained.
 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.
 Proud tyrants who maliciously destroy
 And ride o'er ruins with malignant joy.   --Somerville.
    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.