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.

4. villein.

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. history a variant spelling of villein

6. obsolete,  an uncouth person; boor

Other Word Forms

• subvillain noun
• undervillain noun
• villainess noun

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

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

Example Sentences

“It’s easy to fall into the villain mentality, but actually she’s the hero of her people,” Chaplin said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein” “The ding on Sean Penn is that he’s gotten too self-serious. What a treat to see him channel his righteous energy into ‘One Battle After Another’s’ loathsome, hilarious villain.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

It is just one case that highlights how much social media has changed the shape of the debate around free speech and made heroes and villains of ordinary people.

Read more on BBC

It’s also odd that the activist-minded Greengrass didn’t do more with so corporate a villain: legally responsible utility PG&E, represented in the movie by an ineffectual suit who is briefly yelled at.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

For 18 years, Clayton Kershaw pitched through the gamut of emotions as both a hero and a villain, moments of euphoria addled with spells of despair, picturesque summers disappearing into the wicked wilds of October.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• antihero 
• bad guy 
• baddie 
• baddy www.thesaurus.com
• criminal 
• devil 
• scoundrel 
• sinner