evil

EnglishEdit

 
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A stereotypical evil man. This is an artistic representation of the purposely distinctive visage of villains, initially from the stage plays of the 1880s.

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English yvel, evel, ivel, uvel, from Old English yfel, from Proto-West Germanic *ubil, from Proto-Germanic *ubilaz (compare Saterland Frisian eeuwel, Dutch euvel, Low German övel, German übel), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂upélos, diminutive of *h₂wep-, *h₂wap- (“treat badly”) (compare Hittite [script needed] (huwappi, “to mistreat, harass”), [script needed] (huwappa, “evil, badness”)), or alternatively from *upélos (“evil”, literally “going over or beyond (acceptable limits)”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo, *up, *eup (“down, up, over”).

AdjectiveEdit

evil (comparative eviller or eviler or more evil, superlative evillest or evilest or most evil)

  1. Intending to harm; malevolent.
    an evil plot to brainwash and even kill innocent people
    • 1866, Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, Chapter 47,[1]
      For a good while the Miss Brownings were kept in ignorance of the evil tongues that whispered hard words about Molly.
    • 1916, Zane Grey, The Border Legion, New York: Harper & Bros., Chapter 10, p. 147,[2]
      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.
    • 2006, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow, New York: Pantheon, Book Three, Section II, Chapter 3, p. 351,[3]
      “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?”
  2. Morally corrupt.
    If something is evil, it is never mandatory.
    Do you think that companies that engage in animal testing are evil?
  3. Unpleasant, foul (of odour, taste, mood, weather, etc.).
    • 1660, John Harding (translator), Paracelsus his Archidoxis, London: W.S., Book 7, “Of an Odoriferous Specifick,” p. 100,[7]
      An Odoriferous Specifick […] is a Matter that takes away Diseases from the Sick, no otherwise then as Civet drives away the stinck of Ordure by its Odour; for you are to observe, That the Specifick doth permix it self with this evil Odour of the Dung; and the stink of the Dung cannot hurt, no[r] abide there […]
    • 1897, H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man, Chapter 18,[8]
      He awoke in an evil temper […]
    • 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan, Part V, “Mazar-i-Sherif,” p. 282,[9]
      It was an evil day, sticky and leaden: Oxiana looked as colourless and suburban as India.
    • 1958, Graham Greene, Our Man in Havana, Penguin, 1979, Part Four, Chapter 1, p. 125,[10]
      He herded them into a small and evil toilet and then through a window.
    • 1993, Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries, Toronto: Random House of Canada, Chapter One, p. 39,[11]
      Everyone in the tiny, crowded, hot, and evil-smelling kitchen […] has been invited to participate in a moment of history.
  4. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.
    • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act V, Scene 6,[12]
      The owl shrieked at thy birth,—an evil sign;
    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Deuteronomy 22.19,[13]
      […] he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel:
    • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes in Paradise Regain’d, to which is added Samson Agonistes, London: John Starkey, p. 89, lines 438-439,[14]
      A little stay will bring some notice hither,
      For evil news rides post, while good news baits.
    • 1931, Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth, New York: Modern Library, 1944, Chapter 15, p. 122,[15]
      “ […] with bandits and robbers roving over the land in these evil times of famine and war, how can it be said that this one or that stole anything? Hunger makes thief of any man.”
  5. (obsolete) Having harmful qualities; not good; worthless or deleterious.
    an evil beast; an evil plant; an evil crop
  6. (computing, programming, slang) 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.
SynonymsEdit
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AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from evil (adjective)
TranslationsEdit

NounEdit

 
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evil (countable and uncountable, plural evils)

  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.
  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.
  3. (obsolete) A malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil (scrofula).
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from evil (noun)
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2Edit

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

AdverbEdit

evil (comparative more evil, superlative most evil)

  2. (obsolete) wickedly, evilly, iniquitously
  3. (obsolete) injuriously, harmfully; in a damaging way.
  4. (obsolete) badly, poorly; in an insufficient way.
    It went evil with him.
    • 1570, William Lambard, quoting Horace, A Perambulation of Kent‎[17], published 1596, page 341:
      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:
Usage notesEdit

This adverb was usually used in conjunction with speak.

ReferencesEdit

AnagramsEdit

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

AdjectiveEdit

evil

  1. Alternative form of yvel (“evil”)

Etymology 2Edit

AdverbEdit

evil

  1. Alternative form of yvel (“evilly”)
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