Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for villain

villain

[ vil-uhn ]

noun

  1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.

    Synonyms: scamp, rogue, rapscallion, rascal, knave

  2. a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
  3. a person or thing considered to be the cause of something bad:

    Fear is the villain that can sabotage our goals.



villain

/ ˈvɪlən /

noun

  1. a wicked or malevolent person
  2. (in a novel, play, film, etc) the main evil character and antagonist to the hero
  3. humorous.
    a mischievous person; rogue
  4. slang:police.
    a criminal
  5. See villein
    history a variant spelling of villein
  6. obsolete.
    an uncouth person; boor


Discover More

Derived Forms

  • ˈvillainess, noun:feminine

Discover More

Other Words From

  • sub·villain noun
  • under·villain noun

Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of villain1

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English vilein, vilain “churlish rustic, serf,” from Middle French, from Vulgar Latin and Medieval Latin villānus “a farm servant, farmhand”; villa, -an

Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of villain1

C14: from Old French vilein serf, from Late Latin vīllānus worker on a country estate, from Latin: villa

Discover More

Example Sentences

To begin with, there’s Ursula, a flamboyantly campy villain who lives to be over the top.

From Vox

He has avoided labeling any actual villains he would blame for San Diego’s problems.

Instead, Halliburton claims, health administrators treated him like a villain for calling.

For years, publishers have singled out the duopoly — Google and Facebook — as the industry’s mega villain characters, hoovering up the majority of the digital advertising pie and leaving behind just the crumbs for everyone else to play with.

From Digiday

China’s accelerating AI innovation deserves the world’s full attention, but it is unhelpful to reduce all the many developments into a simplistic narrative about China as a threat or a villain.

I could complain about how, two out of eight episodes in, Agent Carter is in no hurry to introduce its real villain.

When I play a villain, I always try to make sure they believe what they are doing is right.

I say a lot that in the story of racism in America nobody wants to be the villain.

Bill Cosby, it seems, can only be seen in two registers: sainted family man of a much-loved sitcom, or fallen, tarnished villain.

And if there was a villain on whom to pin this whole struggle—it would be our inner demons.

"So that is Jim Poindexter, the bloody villain," muttered the boy between his set teeth, and nervously fingering his revolver.

The villain Longcluse, and the whole fabric of his machinations, may be dashed in pieces by a word.

"You infernal villain, if you don't surrender, I'll blow your brains out," hissed his lordship.

That black-hearted villain, Hidayut Khan, wanted more than his share of plunder on many occasions, and was refused it.

But Sir G. Downing would not be answered so: though all the world takes notice of him for a most ungrateful villain for his pains.

Advertisement

Related Words

Word of the Day

axolotl

[ak-suh-lot-l ]

Meaning and examples

Start each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!

By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


villa homevillainage