devilish

Resembling a devil.

Adjective

  1. Resembling a devil.
    • Let vs put on our meet incountering mindes, / And in deteſting ſuch a diueliſh Thiefe, / In loue of honor and defence of right / Be arm’d againſt the hate of ſuch a foe, / Whether from earth, or hell, or heauen he grow....
    • [C]urrently incarcerated Stinc Team members Ketchy the Great, SaySoTheMac, and Bambino; the devilish and gravelly Almighty Suspect; red-clad Inglewooder and headband connoisseur FreeAckrite; baby-faced Martin Luther...

    Synonyms: demoniac demonic diabolic diabolical hellish infernal fiendish satanic satanical unhallowed cacodaemoniacal daemonical demoniacal demonical demonish demonlike demonly devilish fallen angelic fiendlike

  2. Evil, wicked.
    • For I abhore to smatter / Of one so deuyllysshe a matter. - a. 1530 (date written), John Skelton, “Here after Foloweth a Lytell Boke, whiche hath to Name Why Come Ye Nat to Courte? […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The...
    • [S]ome turne agayne by grace frõ their deadly hereſies into yͤ life of faith, ⁊ ſome be ſo ſore nowſeled in the falſe hereſies, ⁊ in their obſtinate frowardneſſe take ſuch a deueliſhe delight, yͭ finally thei die therin...
    • […] devilish cruelty - for devilish cruelty it was, as three or four drivers armed with whips, lingered up and down the slowly-staggering file of Indians, and avenged every moment's lagging, even every stumble, by a...

    Synonyms: atrocious deuced malicious mischievous nefarious ogreish reprobate abandoned arrant bad bad apple bad seed baleful scurrilous baneful base black-hearted dark deleterious demonic depraved despicable detrimental devilish

  3. Roguish or mischievous.
    • a devilish grin
    • [S]he gave me that lovely devilish smile that said: I like liberty, and not necessarily accountability. - 2009 December, Dennis L. Siluk, A Leaf and a Rose (A Paris-Munich Romance-Novelette; III), iUniverse, →ISBN, page...

    Synonyms: cheeky impish naughty

  4. Excessive, extreme.
    • A devilish effort yielded a devilish success.
    • I had a devilish time moving the wardrobe downstairs.

    Synonyms: lavish wanton devilish excessive extravagant extreme immoderate intemperate nimious obscene overmuch overweening over the top prodigal undue unmeasured unreasonable unrestrained

Origin

From Middle English develissh, develyssh, equivalent to devil + -ish. Cognate with Saterland Frisian düvelsk, düüwelsk (“devilish”), West Frisian duvelsk (“devilish”), Dutch duivels (“devilish”), German Low German düvelsk (“devilish”), German teuflisch (“devilish”), Danish djævelsk (“devilish”), Swedish djävulsk (“devilish”), Norwegian djevelsk (“devilish”).

Forms

more devilish most devilish

Derived

devilishly devilishness undevilish

Adverb

  1. Devilishly; very; exceedingly.
    • It was devilish hot outside today.
    • Only I wish it had gone the other way for it's devilish awkward for me as it happens. - 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

Forms

more devilish most devilish