villainy
Americannoun
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villainies
plural
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the actions or conduct of a villain; outrageous wickedness.
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a villainous act or deed.
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Obsolete. villeinage.
noun
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conduct befitting a villain; vicious behaviour or action
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an evil, abhorrent, or criminal act or deed
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the fact or condition of being villainous
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English history a rare word for villeinage
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of villainy
1175–1225; Middle English vile ( i ) nie, vilainie < Old French. See villain, -y 3
Explanation
Villainy is a characteristic of being evil or wicked. A movie character's villainy is what makes him the bad guy, the one the audience roots against. You might be surprised to learn of your next door neighbor's villainy — if, say, he turned out to be a bank robber. In comic books, superheroes fight against villainy, battling the villains. Villainy, in fact, comes from villain, rooted in the Medieval Latin villanus, "farmhand." A villain was once a "peasant," then a "boor" or "clown," and finally a "scoundrel."
Vocabulary lists containing villainy
"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 1
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Much Ado About Nothing
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Flora and Ulysses
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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:
"Hathaway is a model of steely self-possession masking vulnerability; Pattinson bites into his character's villainy with gusto."
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
His Othello is hounded into a betrayal of his probity and hard-earned honor not just by the villainy of Iago but by the demons of his past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
You don’t threaten such villainy if you don’t need to.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
An overwhelming handful, this early history play retains its popularity largely through the audacious villainy of its title character, one of Shakespeare’s most flamboyant sadists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
This looked like some new scheme of villainy....
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
History is all intrigues and executions, beautiful ineffectual ladies and poisoning queens, love-stories and villainies, steeped in Dickensian melodrama and embroidered with the theatrical effects of a Bleak House or an Oliver Twist.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 25, 2015
In Mr Merriman’s retelling, the Paris Commune is a reminder that the worst villainies are possible once you have dehumanised your opponent.
From Economist ● Nov. 27, 2014
“There has been a transference of villainies from the principals to the agents.”
From Salon ● Dec. 22, 2013
Unwittingly, the virtuous child implicates herself in her master's villainies.
From Time Magazine Archive
This was the blackest of all the many villainies which were allowed to disgrace the reign of the Georges 3rd and 4th.
From The Battle of The Press As Told in the Story of the Life of Richard Carlile By His Daughter, Theophila Carlile Campbell by Theophila Carlile Campbell
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
