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fiendish

[feen-dish]
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adjective
  1. diabolically cruel and wicked.
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Origin of fiendish

First recorded in 1520–30; fiend + -ish1
Related formsfiend·ish·ly, adverbfiend·ish·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for fiendish

nefarious, brutish, atrocious, beastly, cruel, demonic, devilish, diabolic, evil, hellish, inhuman, malicious, sadistic, satanic, savage, vicious, wicked, demonical

Examples from the Web for fiendish

Contemporary Examples of fiendish

Historical Examples of fiendish

  • No wonder he is sometimes provoked to fiendish outbursts of wrath.

  • All that fiendish cruelty and the demon of destruction could do was done.

    The Roof of France

    Matilda Betham-Edwards

  • What was it—madness, a nightmare, or a trap into which he had been decoyed with fiendish artfulness?

    The Secret Agent

    Joseph Conrad

  • This language is wanton cruelty,—it is fiendish insult,—is it not, Evelyn?

  • So avenged I their fiendish deeds death-fall of Danes, as was due and right.

    Beowulf

    Anonymous

British Dictionary definitions for fiendish

fiendish

adjective
  1. of or like a fiend
  2. diabolically wicked or cruel
  3. informal extremely difficult or unpleasanta fiendish problem
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Derived Formsfiendishly, adverbfiendishness, noun
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

Word Origin and History for fiendish

adj.

1520s, from fiend + -ish. Related: Fiendishly; fiendishness.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper