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villain of the piece, the
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Idioms and Phrases
The person to blame for what is bad or wrong, as in I'm afraid the caterer is the villain of the piece—the food wasn't ready for hours . The piece in this term alludes to a play in which the villain is the character whose evildoing is important to the plot. [Mid-1800s]Advertisement
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[fur-kin ]
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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.
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