malice in fact

noun

Provable intent to commit a crime or otherwise do harm.

Opposite
malice in law
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Meanings

nounmalice in fact (uncountable)
  1. uncountablelawProvable intent to commit a crime or otherwise do harm.

    But falsehood and want of probable cause are in themselves evidence of malice in fact.

    1845 January, Peter Vivian Daniel, “White v. Nicholls et al.”, in Benjamin C. Howard, editor, United States Reports, volume 44, Philadelphia: T & J. W. Johnson, page 281
    1 more example

    A private individual very often made a statement out of malice, but a newspaper very often published these matters not for malice in fact, but because it answered their purpose to do so […]

    1888 June 6, William Vernon Harcourt, parliamentary debates (House of Commons)

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite
malice in law
Cite this entry
APA

malice in fact. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malice%20in%20fact

MLA

“malice in fact.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malice%20in%20fact. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “malice in fact,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malice%20in%20fact.

Source: malice in fact on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.