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Synonyms

villain

American  
[vil-uhn] / ˈvɪl ən /

noun

  1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.

    Synonyms:
    scamp, rogue, rapscallion, rascal, knave

  2. a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.

  3. a person or thing considered to be the cause of something bad.

    Fear is the villain that can sabotage our goals.

  4. villein.

villain British  
/ ˈvɪlən /

noun

  1. a wicked or malevolent person

  2. (in a novel, play, film, etc) the main evil character and antagonist to the hero

  3. humorous a mischievous person; rogue

  4. slang:police a criminal

  5. history a variant spelling of villein

  6. obsolete an uncouth person; boor

"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

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.

Just when it looked like the evening's pantomime villain would be an unlikely match-winner, White was penalised for a lunge on Federico Vinas in stoppage time.

From BBC • Mar. 27, 2026

In “No One’s Coming,” Kevin Hazzard has found such a villain.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

But Titus’ fever to prove that he’s his own man makes him unpredictable and dangerous — and makes him the only villain with more layers than one.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2026

On this week’s Slate Plus exclusive, Timothée Chalamet enters the pas de deux between an Oscar-nominated actor and a public itching for a villain.

From Slate • Mar. 13, 2026

A photograph from his late middle years shows him as gaunt and sinister, like the villain in a Victorian melodrama, with long, lank hair and bulging eyes–a face to frighten babies.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

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.