villain
Americannoun
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villains
plural
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a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
- Synonyms:
- scamp, rogue, rapscallion, rascal, knave
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a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
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a person or thing considered to be the cause of something bad.
Fear is the villain that can sabotage our goals.
noun
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a wicked or malevolent person
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(in a novel, play, film, etc) the main evil character and antagonist to the hero
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humorous a mischievous person; rogue
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slang:police a criminal
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history a variant spelling of villein
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obsolete an uncouth person; boor
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of villain
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English vilein, vilain “churlish rustic, serf,” from Middle French, from Vulgar Latin and Medieval Latin villānus “a farm servant, farmhand”; see origin at villa, -an
Explanation
A villain is a bad person — real or made up. In books, movies, current events, or history, the villain is the character who does mean, evil things on purpose. Today a villain is a wicked person, whether in fact or fiction. In the 1300s, villain described a low-born rustic. It came from the Medieval Latin word villanus, or farmhand. Just why a word would evolve from meaning farmer into evildoer is a little mysterious, although it probably has to do with farmers not being chivalrous, like the knights who were so admired in those days.
Vocabulary lists containing villain
"Black Panther" Lingo
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Superhero Lexicon
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
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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.
See Examples For:
Given all the suffering I’d seen, I had expected my medbed search to end with a villain.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
But there was still time for resident villain Horwood to direct a jibe at broadcaster Will Best's hip action: "Call in the paramedics darling, dislocation - my goodness."
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
When Sen. Alan Simpson quotes from “Othello” in defense of Thomas, he uses Shakespeare’s lyrical authority but fails to realize that he is in fact invoking the false words of the tragedy’s villain, Iago.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
“I’m of a certain age,” she scolds the villain, who makes the mistake of condescending to her longevity, “not old!”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
‘But where have you been to — sneaking off and sneaking back, you old villain?’
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
Different characters — villains and helpers — pop up along his journey, as well as different tools and weapons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026
All villains and warriors have an Achilles’ heel, and for female roles in particular, it’s usually sacrificing themselves to protect their family.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
American comedy icon Carol Burnett shared a clip of Curry's turn as her smarmy brother in Annie, posting on social media that "nobody could play lovable villains better than he could".
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
Tech CEOs, mimicking the villains of sci-fi, are telling the public that resistance is futile.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
The throng of reporters, mostly Japanese, wanted a neatly scripted version of the calamity, replete with villains and heroes.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
