villain
Americannoun
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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
- subvillain noun
- undervillain noun
- villainess noun
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”; villa, -an
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.
My mental default is that the world is neutral-good, and that may be why I prefer movies with active villains scaring me out of my complacency.
From Los Angeles Times
The challenge of basing a long novel on a villain appears to have bedeviled Mr. Mahajan.
The “Iron Man 2” villain said he didn’t know who started the GoFundMe but assured fans he would speak to his lawyer and get to the bottom of it.
From Los Angeles Times
Arsenal are now firmly cast as the villains of the Premier League title race - but this frenzied night at Brighton might just be the one that ultimately makes them victors.
From BBC
“Oliver was thoughtless there, but Rachel was the real villain. She knew exactly what she was doing.”
From Literature
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.
