adjective
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excruciatingly bad; outrageous
-
(intensifier)
a diabolical liberty
Other Word Forms
- diabolically adverb
- diabolicalness noun
- hyperdiabolical adjective
- hyperdiabolically adverb
- hyperdiabolicalness noun
- nondiabolical adjective
- nondiabolically adverb
- nondiabolicalness noun
- superdiabolical adjective
- superdiabolically adverb
- superdiabolicalness noun
Etymology
Origin of diabolical
First recorded in 1500–10; from Late Latin diabolicus ( diabolic ( def. ) ) + -al 1 ( def. )
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.
Sellers’s “talent was diabolical,” writes Mr. Lewis, embracing the full connotations of the word.
Product designers are coming up with novel ways to rouse deep sleepers that border on diabolical, including clocks that deliver 300-volt electric shocks and donate snoozers’ money to charity.
Product designers are hatching new ways to rouse them that border on diabolical.
In later works by Christie and others, diabolical deeds increasingly transpired in villages, hotels, trains, planes, boats and locked rooms.
Later, John and Paul attempt diabolical accents while relating the story of Count Balder and Felpin Mansions, “the eccentric son of Baron Landsberg, the inventor of the rack,” including a variety of sound effects.
From Salon
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.
