| / English Dictionary |
VILLAINOUS
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Extremely wicked
Example:
a villainous band of thieves
Synonyms:
nefarious; villainous
Classified under:
Similar:
wicked (morally bad in principle or practice)
Derivation:
villain (a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately)
villainousness (the quality of evil by virtue of villainous behavior)
Context examples:
I thought him looking as villainous as ever, and I replied that I saw no change in him.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
“What if I am?” he asked with a most villainous scowl.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
A handful of villainous half-breeds dominated the country, armed such Indians as would support them, and turned the rest into slaves, terrorizing them with the most inhuman tortures in order to force them to gather the india-rubber, which was then floated down the river to Para.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
In a similar anticipation of life afloat, and in the Bush, Mr. Micawber, instead of helping Mrs. Micawber and his eldest son and daughter to punch, in wine-glasses, which he might easily have done, for there was a shelf-full in the room, served it out to them in a series of villainous little tin pots; and I never saw him enjoy anything so much as drinking out of his own particular pint pot, and putting it in his pocket at the close of the evening.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Only gradually did I become aware that the automobiles which turned expectantly into his drive stayed for just a minute and then drove sulkily away. Wondering if he were sick I went over to find out—an unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted at me suspiciously from the door.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
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