evil

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Intending to harm

   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.
   • 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.
2. 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.
3. 3

   Unpleasant, foul (of odor, taste, mood, weather, etc.).

   • He awoke in an evil temper […]
   • 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. ›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity

      Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.

      • The owl shrieked at thy birth,—an evil sign;
      • […] he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel:
      • A little stay will bring some notice hither, For evil news rides post, while good news baits.
   2. 5

      Having harmful qualities

      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.
   3. 6

      Undesirable

      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.
   4. 7

      Moral badness

      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.
   5. 8

      Something which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good

      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
      • The evil that men do lives after them.
   6. 9

      A malady or disease

      A malady or disease; especially in combination, as in king's evil, colt evil.

      • [The disease]Tis call'd the Euill.
      • He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil.
   7. 10

      wickedly, evilly, iniquitously

      • O what of Gods then boots it to be borne, / If old Aveugles ſonnes ſo euill heare?
   8. 11

      injuriously, harmfully

      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:
   9. 12

      badly, poorly

      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:

The neighborhood

• synonymnefarious
• synonymmalicious
• synonymmalevolent
• synonymwicked
• synonymabandoned
• synonymarrant
• synonymbad
• synonymbad apple
• synonymbad seed
• synonymbaleful
• synonymscurrilous
• synonymbaneful
• antonymgood
• antonymangelic
• antonymbenign
• antonymgood-minded
• antonymjust
• antonymmoral
• antonymrighteous
• antonymwell-intentioned
• neighborvillainy
• neighborominous