evil
/ˈiːv(ə)l
/ /ˈiːvɪl/adjective
1Profoundly immoral and wicked: his evil deeds no man is so evil as to be beyond redemption...
- She too is evil, dark and wicked and she too will pay the price if she does die.
- A girl can't even get the satisfaction of contemplating evil deeds in a properly villainous position these days!
- His atrocities and evil deeds invited the curse.
Synonyms
wicked, bad, wrong, morally wrong, wrongful, immoral, sinful, ungodly, unholy, foul, vile, base, ignoble, dishonourable, corrupt, iniquitous, depraved, degenerate, villainous, nefarious, sinister, vicious, malicious, malevolent, demonic, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, fiendish, dark, black-hearted;
monstrous, shocking, despicable, atrocious, heinous, odious, contemptible, horrible, execrable
informal low-down, stinking, dirty, shady, warped, bent, crooked
archaic dastardly, black
rare egregious, flagitious, peccable
1.1(Of a force or spirit) embodying or associated with the forces of the devil: we were driven out of the house by an evil spirit...
- The devils and evil spirits of the next day were perhaps more psychosomatic and drawn from the excesses of the night before than derived from a Celtic past.
- The malevolent exercise of supposed supernatural powers, especially by women, attributed to a connection with the devil or evil spirits.
- It can also take the form of an exorcism, where the treatment is meant to drive out an evil spirit or devil from the victim.
1.2Harmful or tending to harm: the evil effects of high taxes...
- Taxes with or without representation are evil, ever fostering harm and destruction.
- Logically, if one follows the common mores of the west, the intent to ‘do harm’ would be evil.
- In his homily he urged the young people to remain loyal to the pledge to abstain from alcohol which they were taking, and warned them of the evil effect on society from the use of drugs.
Synonyms
harmful, hurtful, injurious, detrimental, deleterious, inimical, bad, mischievous, pernicious, malignant, malign, baleful, venomous, noxious, poisonous;
corrupting, subversive;
calamitous, disastrous, destructive, ruinous
literary malefic, maleficent
rare prejudicious
unlucky, unfortunate, unfavourable, adverse, unhappy, disastrous, catastrophic, ruinous, calamitous, unpropitious, inauspicious, dire, woeful
2(Of a smell or sight) extremely unpleasant: a bathroom with an ineradicably evil smell...
- One of these, when I knew it many years ago, was black, splattered with pigeon droppings, subjected to dense fogs, evil smells, filth everywhere.
- Speight's putsch has the evil smell of a South Pacific Kristallnacht.
- Borne along by the flow of traffic, she passed through the forum arch into a stew of noises, colors, and evil smells.
Synonyms
unpleasant, disagreeable, nasty, horrible, foul, filthy, vile;
inclement, wet, rainy, stormy, squally, blustery, cold, freezing, foggy
noun [mass noun]
1Profound immorality and wickedness, especially when regarded as a supernatural force: his struggle against the forces of evil...
- Righting wrongs and fighting evil, corruption, wickedness and stupidity is just part time work.
- All of which would suggest that a film which casts spiders as the malevolent force of evil would be a natural fit for a when nature attacks horror movie.
- Watch them battle the forces of evil in the guise of a smiling clown.
Synonyms
wickedness, bad, badness, wrong, wrongdoing, sin, sinfulness, ungodliness, immorality, vice, iniquity, turpitude, degeneracy, vileness, baseness, perversion, corruption, depravity, villainy, nefariousness, atrocity, malevolence, devilishness
informal shadiness, crookedness
rare peccability, peccancy
1.1 [count noun] A manifestation of this, especially in people’s actions: the evil that took place last Thursday...
- Next will be that perennial complaint by predictable hand wringers that children's toy advertising is a modern evil of biblical proportions.
- I implore the May Day protesters to worry about real problems, rather than just labelling everything as an evil of capitalism.
- There are indications that romantic aberrations are becoming more and more an evil of underprivileged people.
Synonyms
abomination, atrocity, obscenity, outrage, enormity, crime, monstrosity, barbarity, barbarism;
torment, curse, bane
1.2 [count noun] Something which is harmful or undesirable: sexism, racism, and all other unpleasant social evils...
- It is a minor skin problem yet it is considered a social evil.
- It was for the political reason that Nazism had ceased to be a social evil, especially when viewed alongside the new menace of communism.
- We are responsible to God if by our carelessness or neglect we lead our children into a life or crime or other social evils.
Synonyms
harm, pain, hurt, misery, sorrow, suffering, trauma, trouble, disaster, detriment, destruction, loss, misfortune, catastrophe, calamity, affliction, woe, ruin, hardship;
ills
Phrases
the evil eye
the Evil One
give someone (the) evils
put off the evil day (or hour)
speak evil of
Derivatives
evilly
/ adverb ...- That vote may have been evilly garnered by preying on people's baser tendencies, but again, a vote's a vote.
- But it descended into your stomach through your nose and mouth and sat there evilly.
- It comes from evil masterminds stroking their chin and smirking evilly.
evilness
/ noun ...- The evil doers will be judged according to their work of evilness!
- But instead of haranguing about corporate evilness, compete with them in the marketplace and be specific and even more energetic about bringing to light their polluting, wasting behaviors.
- The Child Catcher is a wonderful part because I can get rid of all the venom and evilness which has accumulated during the day.
Origin
Old English yfel, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch euvel and German Übel.
Like good and bad, evil goes back to the earliest times, and many have reflected on its nature over the centuries. ‘The evil that men do lives after them’, wrote Shakespeare in Julius Caesar. The proverb See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil is often represented by the image of ‘three wise monkeys’, who are pictured covering their eyes, ears, and mouth with their hands. The carving of the original monkeys is found on a shrine at Nikko in Japan. The idea of a necessary evil goes back to Greek. The first necessary evil was marriage, and the first example in English, from 1547, refers to a woman. In his State of the Union address of February 2002, US President George W. Bush said of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea that they constituted ‘an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of this world’. The phrase is now used to encapsulate the Bush administration's stance in foreign relations, much as the evil empire (inspired by the Star Wars films) summed up Ronald Reagan's view of the Soviet Union.