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fiend

[ feend ]
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noun
verb (used without object)
Also feen [feen] /fin/ .Slang. to desire greatly: just another junkie fiending after his next hit;As soon as I finish a cigarette I'm fiending to light another.
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Origin of fiend

First recorded before 900; Middle English feend, Old English fēond; cognate with German Feind, Old Norse fjandr, Gothic fijands “foe,” originally present participle of fijan “to hate”

OTHER WORDS FROM fiend

fiendlike, adjectiveun·der·fiend, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fiend in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for fiend (1 of 2)

fiend
/ (fiːnd) /

noun
an evil spirit; demon; devil
a person who is extremely wicked, esp in being very cruel or brutal
informal
  1. a person who is intensely interested in or fond of somethinga fresh-air fiend; he is a fiend for cards
  2. an addicta drug fiend
(informal) a mischievous or spiteful person, esp a child

Derived forms of fiend

fiendlike, adjective

Word Origin for fiend

Old English fēond; related to Old Norse fjāndi enemy, Gothic fijands, Old High German fīant

British Dictionary definitions for fiend (2 of 2)

Fiend
/ (fiːnd) /

noun
the Fiend the devil; Satan
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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