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View synonyms for villainous

villainous

[ vil-uh-nuhs ]

adjective

  1. having a cruel, wicked, malicious nature or character.
  2. of, relating to, or befitting a villain:

    villainous treachery.

  3. outrageously base, wicked, or vile:

    a villainous attack on his character.

  4. very objectionable or unpleasant; bad; wretched:

    a villainous storm.



villainous

/ ˈvɪlənəs /

adjective

  1. of, like, or appropriate to a villain
  2. very bad or disagreeable

    a villainous climate

“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


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Derived Forms

  • ˈvillainously, adverb
  • ˈvillainousness, noun
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Other Words From

  • villain·ous·ly adverb
  • villain·ous·ness noun
  • non·villain·ous adjective
  • non·villain·ous·ly adverb
  • non·villain·ous·ness noun
  • un·villain·ous adjective
  • un·villain·ous·ly adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of villainous1

Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; villain, -ous
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Example Sentences

In one example, Han was approached by a marketing team working with Capcom’s “Resident Evil Village,” a horror-focused shooter starring the villainous vampire Lady Dimitrescu.

That failure becomes increasingly villainous when you know simple solutions like housing vouchers exist to reverse the most dire foundational crisis for poor Americans.

From Time

Villainy gets even more complicated as a concept when we consider that, historically, the “villain” in any given story is villainous not because of something they do but because of something they are.

From Vox

It’s possible that a villainous Thunderbolts super-group could be in the works.

From Time

Set after the events of Half-Life, but before Half-Life 2, Alyx follows protagonist Alyx Vance as she attempts to rescue her father and uncover the secret of the villainous Combine’s newest weapon.

From Time

She is against the patriarchy, especially when personified in villainous ogres like the Duke of Deception.

There are big rocks in off the shore, craggy and black; they always look villainous in the dark of the evening.

So the man who plays the villainous Frank Underwood does have a lighter side after all.

Surely there will be villainous pirates, distracting mermaids, tides change in the new open water chapter of my journey.

And they face the absolute villain, Haman, from the absolute villainous family, Amalek.

Upon a ship sailing along the shores of France were a man and his wife on their way to join a band of villainous people in India.

He was concerned with the villainous intrigues of Cerizet, his copy-clerk, and with Theodose de la Peyrade, the tricky lawyer.

Remembering what a scoundrel Garcia was, and what a villainous business Garcia had sent him upon, Coronado felt like smiling.

Coronado's first bullet knocked a villainous-looking tatterdemalion clean into the happy hunting grounds.

Goaded to desperation by his villainous servant, Herbert Murray turned upon the traitor and hurled him down the gravel pit.

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villainizevillainy