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/ English Dictionary

DEVILISH

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

 I. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devilplay

Example:

a mephistophelian glint in his eye

Synonyms:

devilish; diabolic; diabolical; mephistophelean; mephistophelian

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

evil (morally bad or wrong)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Playful in an appealingly bold wayplay

Example:

a roguish grin

Synonyms:

devilish; rascally; roguish

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

playful (full of fun and high spirits)

 II. (adverb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

In a playfully devilish mannerplay

Example:

the socialists are further handicapped if they believe that capitalists are not only wicked but also devilishly clever

Synonyms:

devilish; devilishly

Classified under:

Adverbs

Credits

 Context examples: 

You are devilish strong.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood-dripping mouth, champed together like those of a wild beast.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Not but that I shall be down again by the end of a fortnight, and a devilish long fortnight it will appear to me.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

He said it was no derogation from a man's dignity to confess that I was a devilish good fellow.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I gnashed my teeth upon him with a gust of devilish fury; and the smile withered from his face—happily for him—yet more happily for myself, for in another instant I had certainly dragged him from his perch.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She seemed like a nightmare of Lucy as she lay there; the pointed teeth, the bloodstained, voluptuous mouth—which it made one shudder to see—the whole carnal and unspiritual appearance, seeming like a devilish mockery of Lucy's sweet purity.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

I propose, said Mr. Micawber, Bills—a convenience to the mercantile world, for which, I believe, we are originally indebted to the Jews, who appear to me to have had a devilish deal too much to do with them ever since—because they are negotiable.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)




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