Dictionary

villainous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈvɪlənəs/

Etymology

From Middle English vileinous, from Old French vileneus. By surface analysis, villain + -ous.

Meanings

1. Of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain.
2. Wicked, offensive, or reprehensible in nature or behaviour; nefarious.
   • Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough? / Hiſt[rio]. O, I warrant you, Captaine: and ſpitefully inough too; he ha's one of the moſt ouerflowing villanous wits, in Rome. He will ſlander any man that breathes; If he diſguſt him. / Tucca. I'le know the poor, egregious, nitty Raſcall; and he haue ſuch commendable Qualities, I'le cheriſh him: […] 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act III:
   • Bah! to this toilet for the villainous boredom of church. 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 9:
   • Baltar, played hammily as a selfish, cowardly survivor, is to “Battlestar Galactica” what Erica Kane is to “All My Children” — an amusingly villainous central character who brings a little campy comic relief to all that earnest, jaw-clenched melodrama. 2008 April 4, Alessandra Stanley, “Space Opera Returns: One Last Step for Mankind”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 09 Nov 2020:

Forms

Deriveds

unvillainous · nonvillainous · villainously · villainousness · supervillainous

Synonyms

villainy · villainly

Translations (18)

es villano (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · sv skurkaktig (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · bg злодейски (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · ar شِرِّير (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · pt vilanesco (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · ga bithiúnta (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · fr scélérat (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · ru злой (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · ka საძაგელი (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · de bösartig (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · ru злоде́йский (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · la scelestus (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · ka ბოროტული (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · fr crapuleux (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · ka ბოროტმოქმედული (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · ja 悪辣なる (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · grc πανοῦργος (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain) · de niederträchtig (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain)