nefarious
Americanadjective
adjective
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Other Word Forms
- nefariously adverb
- nefariousness noun
- unnefarious adjective
- unnefariously adverb
- unnefariousness noun
Etymology
Origin of nefarious
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin nefārius “wicked, vile,” equivalent to nefās “offense against divine or moral law” (from ne-, negative prefix + fās “law, right”) + -ius -ious
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.
What you see as nefarious he may regard as a welcome respite to months of unwelcome change.
From MarketWatch
But government and industry officials say there is limited ability to engineer out nefarious intent.
But all Mexican children are schooled in the what is taught as the nefarious U.S. legacy of invasions and land grabs.
From Los Angeles Times
But these nefarious prompts can also be hiding out on the internet as AI agents built into browsers encounter online data of dubious quality or origin, and potentially booby-trapped with hidden commands from hackers.
From Barron's
She added, “It doesn’t need to be something nefarious.”
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.
