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Malignant vs Malicious - What's the difference?

malignant | malicious |

As adjectives the difference between malignant and malicious

is that malignant is harmful, malevolent, injurious while malicious is of, pertaining to, or as a result of malice or spite.

As a noun malignant

is 1823, The Retrospective Review (volume 7, page 11.

malignant

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Harmful, malevolent, injurious.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
    • , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes
  • (medicine) Tending to produce death; threatening a fatal issue.
    • malignant diphtheria
    a malignant tumor

    Antonyms

    * (medicine) benign

    Related terms

    * nonmalignant

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * 1823 , The Retrospective Review (volume 7, page 11)
    • As devout Stephen was carried to his burial by devout men, so is it just and equal that malignants should carry malignants
    ----

    malicious

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of, pertaining to, or as a result of malice or spite
  • spiteful and deliberately harmful
    • He was sent off for a malicious tackle on Jones.

    Synonyms

    * malevolent * evil * See also

    Derived terms

    * maliciously * maliciousness * malicious mischief