Dictionary

anti-villain en · NOUN

Etymology

From anti- + villain.

Meanings

1. An antagonist who has or may have noble or honorable aims, but pursues them destructively.
   • The rise of the anti-hero as the protagonist of much of modern fiction was accompanied by the rise of what one might call the “anti-villain,” ironically understood as more interesting than his heroic counterpart. 2019, Martin Jay, “Sociology and the Heroism of Modern Life”, in Warren Breckman, Peter E. Gordon, editors, The Cambridge History of Modern European Thought: Volume II, The Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, page 19:
   • As much the anti-hero initially as Thorpe is anti-villain, Tinley's function in the first volume is to expose to Catherine various modes of triviality and affectation. 1994, Alistair M. Duckworth, The Improvement of the Estate: A Study of Jane Austen's Novels, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, page 95:

Forms

Deriveds

anti-villainous · anti-villainess

Translations (24)

eo kontraŭmaliculo (antagonist who have noble goals) · it anticattivo (antagonist who have noble goals) · eo kontraŭfiulo (antagonist who have noble goals) · ko 반악당 (antagonist who have noble goals) · fi antikonna (antagonist who have noble goals) · el αντικακός (antagonist who have noble goals) · sv antiskurk (antagonist who have noble goals) · cmn 反惡棍角色 /反恶棍角色 (antagonist who have noble goals) · es anti-villano (antagonist who have noble goals) · fi antipahis (antagonist who have noble goals) · de Antischurke (antagonist who have noble goals) · cs antipadouch (antagonist who have noble goals) · ja 反悪役 (antagonist who have noble goals) · pl antyzłoczyńca (antagonist who have noble goals) · ro antiticălos (antagonist who have noble goals) · sq antimaskarai (antagonist who have noble goals) · yue 反奸角 (antagonist who have noble goals) · pt anti-vilão (antagonist who have noble goals) · fr anti-méchant (antagonist who have noble goals) · hy հակաչարագործ (antagonist who have noble goals) · de Antibösewicht (antagonist who have noble goals) · tr anti-kötü adam (antagonist who have noble goals) · ru антизлодей (antagonist who have noble goals) · vi chống phản diện (antagonist who have noble goals)