Evil

/ˈiːvəl/ · adjective

Meaning

Intending to harm; malevolent..

Definitions by Sense

1. Intending to harm; malevolent.
2. Morally corrupt.
3. Unpleasant, foul (of odor, taste, mood, weather, etc.).
4. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.
5. (obsolete) Having harmful qualities; not good; worthless or deleterious.
6. (computing, programming, slang) Undesirable; harmful; bad practice.
7. Moral badness; wickedness; malevolence; the forces or behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good.
8. Something which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; something which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; harm; injury; mischief.

Example Sentences

an evil plot to brainwash and even kill innocent people

2006, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow, New York: Pantheon, Book Three, Section II, Chapter 3, p. 351, “Before this, I never had any cause to suspect my wife of any conspiracy.” “You mean it never crossed your mind that she might have been told to whisper evil thoughts in your ear at night?”

For a good while the Miss Brownings were kept in ignorance of the evil tongues that whispered hard words about Molly.

He looked at her shapely person with something of the brazen and evil glance that had been so revolting to her in the eyes of those ruffians.

He tells secret dreams to strangers , imagines he can achieve art without discipline , regards all boundaries as evil , ignores ancestors , wants comfort and merging , believes cunning is wrong , and as a scholar or artist doesn't […]

If something is evil, it is never mandatory.

Do you think that companies that engage in animal testing are evil?

Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, When death’s approach is seen so terrible.

Synonyms for evil

Antonyms for evil

Related Words

Word Forms

• eviller
• eviler
• more evil
• evillest
• evilest
• most evil
• evils

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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