diabolic

American  

[dahy-uh-bol-ik] / ˌdaɪ əˈbɒl ɪk /

adjective

1. variant of diabolical.

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diabolic British  

/ ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or proceeding from the devil; satanic

2. befitting a devil; extremely cruel or wicked; fiendish

3. very difficult or unpleasant

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Other Word Forms

• diabolically adverb
• diabolicalness noun
• nondiabolic adjective

Etymology

Origin of diabolic

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English diabolik, from Middle French or directly from Late Latin diabolicus, from Greek diabolikós, equivalent to diábo(os) devil + -ikos -ic

Explanation

Use the adjective diabolic to describe someone who acts in a terribly cruel way. A diabolic boy might pick up a cat by its tail and swing it around. When people are diabolic, they're evil. The horrible dictator who has thousands of civilians killed commits a diabolic act, and people who abuse children are also diabolic. The bad guy in a fairy tale is always diabolic. You can use diabolic interchangeably with the slightly more common diabolical. Both words have a Greek root, diabolikos, which means "devilish" and comes from diabolus, or "devil."

Example Sentences

Thus far, it has been the only diabolic flicker he’s displayed.

From Salon • Jan. 28, 2026

Sheku Tarawallie, president of Sierra Leone's Council of Traditional Healers, is adamant that "diabolic" juju men like Kanu are giving healers a bad name.

From BBC • Nov. 23, 2025

Perhaps rattled by the setback, Woods may have made a mental mistake when he chose a 7-iron at the diabolic par-3 12th hole, which was playing into the stiff wind.

From New York Times • Apr. 8, 2022

To crown all, this imaginative anthology even makes room for Arthur Machen’s dizzyingly phantasmagoric “The White People,” and that chilling fairy tale of diabolic temptation, Lucy Clifford’s “The New Mother.”

From Washington Post • Feb. 23, 2021

Waking from the dream, Tartini attempted to recollect the fugitive motives of this diabolic sonata, but could not — and wrote instead, from those fragments, his sonata, infamous for its difficulty, called “The Devil’s Trill.”

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson