nefarious
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nefariously adverb
- nefariousness noun
- unnefarious adjective
- unnefariously adverb
- unnefariousness noun
Etymology
Origin of nefarious
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin nefārius “wicked, vile,” equivalent to nefās “offense against divine or moral law” (from ne-, negative prefix + fās “law, right”) + -ius -ious
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He’s accusing them of betraying the U.S. at the behest of nefarious interests he didn’t identify, no doubt because they don’t exist.
But agents have to be given powerful permissions to do their jobs, and we are already seeing this being exploited in potentially nefarious ways in what are called prompt injection attacks.
From Barron's
A nefarious hacker could have easily installed a virus on to my machine without me having to do anything.
From BBC
That specifically relates to Rob, who is keeping a lot of secrets that may or may not be nefarious.
From Los Angeles Times
Siegal told the Journal that she was unaware of Epstein’s nefarious behavior.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
