evil

Intending to harm; malevolent.

Adjective

  1. Intending to harm; malevolent.
    • an evil plot to brainwash and even kill innocent people
    • For a good while the Miss Brownings were kept in ignorance of the evil tongues that whispered hard words about Molly. - 1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, chapter 47, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day...
    • 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. - 1916, Zane Grey, chapter 10, in The Border Legion, New York: Harper &...
  2. Morally corrupt.
    • 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. - 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
  3. Unpleasant, foul (of odor, taste, mood, weather, etc.).
    • 1660, John Harding (translator), Paracelsus his Archidoxis, London: W.S., Book 7, “Of an Odoriferous Specifick,” p. 100, An Odoriferous Specifick […] is a Matter that takes away Diseases from the Sick, no otherwise then...
    • He awoke in an evil temper […] - 1897, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter 18, in The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
    • 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan, Part V, “Mazar-i-Sherif,” p. 282, It was an evil day, sticky and leaden: Oxiana looked as colourless and suburban as India.
  4. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.
    • The owl shrieked at thy birth,—an evil sign; - c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio),...
    • […] he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 22:19:
    • A little stay will bring some notice hither, For evil news rides post, while good news baits. - 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson...
  5. Having harmful qualities; not good; worthless or deleterious.
    • an evil beast; an evil plant; an evil crop
    • A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 7:18:
  6. Undesirable; harmful; bad practice.
    • Global variables are evil; storing processing context in object member variables allows those objects to be reused in a much more flexible way.

Origin

From Middle English yvel, evel, ivel, uvel, from Old English yfel, from Proto-West Germanic *ubil, from Proto-Germanic *ubilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂up(h₁)élos, a deverbal derivative of *h₂wep(h₁)-, *h₂wop(h₁)- (“treat badly”). See -le for the supposed suffix. Alternatively from *upélos (“evil”, literally “going over or beyond (acceptable limits)”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo, *h₃ewp- (“down, up, over”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch euvel (“evil”), German übel (“bad, evil”), German Low German övel (“evil”), Luxembourgish iwwel (“queasy, nauseous; bad”), Gothic 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌻𐍃 (ubils, “bad, evil”). Compare Old Irish fel (“bad, evil”), from Proto-Celtic *uɸelos, and Hittite 𒄷𒉿𒀊𒍣 (huwapp-ⁱ, “to mistreat, harass”), 𒄷𒉿𒀊𒉺𒀸 (huwappa-, “evil, badness”).

Forms

eviller eviler more evil evillest evilest most evil

Synonyms

nefarious malicious malevolent wicked abandoned arrant bad bad apple bad seed baleful scurrilous baneful base black-hearted dark deleterious demonic depraved despicable detrimental devilish diabolical evil evil-minded

Antonyms

good angelic benign good-minded just moral righteous well-intentioned

Hyponyms

ominous

Related

villainy

Derived

chaotic evil colt's evil evil be to him who evil thinks evil container evil day evil-doer evil eye evil-eye evilfare evil genius evil hour evilista evility evilize evil laugh evil laughter evilly evil maid attack evil-minded evilness Evil One evil-speaking evil-tempered evil to him that evil thinks

Adverb

  1. wickedly, evilly, iniquitously
    • O what of Gods then boots it to be borne, / If old Aveugles ſonnes ſo euill heare? - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part I (books I–III), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonbie,...
  2. injuriously, harmfully; in a damaging way.
    • And many ſhall follow their pernicious wayes, by reaſon of whom the way of trueth ſhall be euill ſpoken of: - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Peter 2:2:
  3. badly, poorly; in an insufficient way.
    • It went evil with him.
    • But (as the Poet ſaith) Malè ſarta gratia, nequicquam coit, & reſcinditur: Friendſhip, that is but euill peeced, will not ioine cloſe, but falleth aſunder againe: - 1570, William Lambard, quoting Horace, A Perambulation...

Origin

From Middle English yvele, yvel, ivel, from Old English yfele (“badly, evilly”), a derivative of the adjective yfel (“bad, evil”). Often reinterpreted as the noun in the later language (as in "to speak evil").

Forms

more evil most evil

Noun

  1. Moral badness; wickedness; malevolence; the forces or behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good.
    • The evils of society include murder and theft.
    • Evil lacks spirituality, hence its need for mind control.
    • The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 9:3:

    Synonyms: enormity

  2. 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.
    • evils which our own misdeeds have wrought - 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker,...
    • The evil that men do lives after them. - 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  3. A malady or disease; especially in combination, as in king's evil, colt evil.
    • [The disease]Tis call'd the Euill. - c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    • He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil. - 1711 March 23 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, March 13, 1710–1711”, in The Spectator, number 329; republished...

Forms

evils

Antonyms

good

Derived

axis of evil colt evil evildoer evildoing evilist evilology evilworker fox evil greater evil greater of two evils king's evil lawful evil lesser evil lesser of two evils lousy evil money is the root of all evil necessary evil neutral evil poll evil problem of evil quarter-evil root of all evil snowshoe evil social evil