villain
Americannoun
-
villains
plural
-
a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
- Synonyms:
- scamp, rogue, rapscallion, rascal, knave
-
a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
-
a person or thing considered to be the cause of something bad.
Fear is the villain that can sabotage our goals.
noun
-
a wicked or malevolent person
-
(in a novel, play, film, etc) the main evil character and antagonist to the hero
-
humorous a mischievous person; rogue
-
slang:police a criminal
-
history a variant spelling of villein
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Superhero Lexicon
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act III
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
Is it the main villain in One Thousand and One Nights?
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026
“The villain is always more compelling than the hero. The hero is perfectly upright. A good villain has many cracks, which is what makes him more human.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Sony has also made Spider-Man villain spinoffs including the hit “Venom” trilogy and flops like “Madame Web” and “Kraven the Hunter.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Bardem’s villain is built more like an aughts-edition antihero.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
Usually, the way to obtain an artifact was to defeat some godlike villain at the end of a high-level quest.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Tech CEOs, mimicking the villains of sci-fi, are telling the public that resistance is futile.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
There are no villains here, just a group of super-fit college grads.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Some imagine the ICC to be a judicial superhero, dispensing justice to arch villains around the world.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
Argentina are so often painted as the pantomime villains of international football - particularly by England fans.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
It offered a set of bona fide heroes rather than simply a dearth of villains.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
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.
