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evil

 - 5 dictionary results

e⋅vil

  [ee-vuhl]
Use evil in a Sentence
–adjective
1. morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life.
2. harmful; injurious: evil laws.
3. characterized or accompanied by misfortune or suffering; unfortunate; disastrous: to be fallen on evil days.
4. due to actual or imputed bad conduct or character: an evil reputation.
5. marked by anger, irritability, irascibility, etc.: He is known for his evil disposition.
–noun
6. that which is evil; evil quality, intention, or conduct: to choose the lesser of two evils.
7. the force in nature that governs and gives rise to wickedness and sin.
8. the wicked or immoral part of someone or something: The evil in his nature has destroyed the good.
9. harm; mischief; misfortune: to wish one evil.
10. anything causing injury or harm: Tobacco is considered by some to be an evil.
11. a harmful aspect, effect, or consequence: the evils of alcohol.
12. a disease, as king's evil.
–adverb
13. in an evil manner; badly; ill: It went evil with him.
—Idiom
14. the evil one, the devil; Satan.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME evel, evil, OE yfel; c. Goth ubils, OHG ubil, G übel, OFris, MD evel

Related forms:
e⋅vil⋅ly, adverb
e⋅vil⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. sinful, iniquitous, depraved, vicious, corrupt, base, vile, nefarious. See bad 1 . 2. pernicious, destructive. 6. wickedness, depravity, iniquity, unrighteousness, corruption, baseness. 9. disaster, calamity, woe, misery, suffering, sorrow.

Antonyms:
1. righteous.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To evil
e·vil   (ē'vəl)   
adj.   e·vil·er, e·vil·est

  1. Morally bad or wrong; wicked: an evil tyrant.

  2. Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful: the evil effects of a poor diet.

  3. Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous: evil omens.

  4. Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous: an evil reputation.

  5. Characterized by anger or spite; malicious: an evil temper.

n.  

  1. The quality of being morally bad or wrong; wickedness.

  2. That which causes harm, misfortune, or destruction: a leader's power to do both good and evil.

  3. An evil force, power, or personification.

  4. Something that is a cause or source of suffering, injury, or destruction: the social evils of poverty and injustice.

adv.   Archaic
In an evil manner.

[Middle English, from Old English yfel; see wap- in Indo-European roots.]
e'vil·ly adv., e'vil·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
evil

  1. mod.
    excellent. (See also wicked.) : This wine is really evil!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

evil 
O.E. yfel (Kentish evel) "bad, vicious," from P.Gmc. *ubilaz (cf. O.Saxon ubil, Goth. ubils), from PIE *upelo-, giving the word an original sense of "uppity, overreaching bounds" which slowly worsened. "In OE., as in all the other early Teut. langs., exc. Scandinavian, this word is the most comprehensive adjectival expression of disapproval, dislike or disparagement" [OED]. Evil was the word the Anglo-Saxons used where we would use bad, cruel, unskillful, defective (adj.), or harm, crime, misfortune, disease. The meaning "extreme moral wickedness" was in O.E., but did not become the main sense until 18c. Evil eye (L. oculus malus) was O.E. eage yfel.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

evil
As used by a hacker, implies that some system, program, person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be not worth the bother of dealing with. Unlike the adjectives in the cretinous, losing, brain-damaged series, "evil" does not imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of goals or design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's. This usage is more an aesthetic and engineering judgment than a moral one in the mainstream sense. "We thought about adding a Blue Glue interface but decided it was too evil to deal with." "TECO is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're prone to typos." Often pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/.
Compare evil and rude.
[The Jargon File]
(1994-12-12)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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