Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Morally bad or wrong; wicked: an evil tyrant.
- adj. Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful: the evil effects of a poor diet.
- adj. Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous: evil omens.
- adj. Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous: an evil reputation.
- adj. Characterized by anger or spite; malicious: an evil temper.
- n. The quality of being morally bad or wrong; wickedness.
- n. That which causes harm, misfortune, or destruction: a leader's power to do both good and evil.
- n. An evil force, power, or personification.
- n. 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.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- compar. usually worse, superl. worst (see bad), or more evil, most evil (rarely eviler, evilest).
- Having harmful qualities or characteristics; productive of or attended by harm or injury; hurtful to the body, mind, or feelings; effecting mischief, trouble, or pain; bad: as, an evil genius; evil laws.
- Proceeding from a desire to injure; hostile.
- Contrary to an accepted standard of right or righteousness; inconsistent with or violating the moral law; bad; sinful; wicked: as, evil deeds; an evil heart.
- Proceeding from, due to, or purporting to be due to immorality or badness of conduct or character.
- 3 and Bad, vile, base, vicious, wicked, iniquitous.
- n. Anything that causes injury, as to the body, mind, or feelings; anything that harms or is likely to harm.
- n. A malady or disease: as, the king's evil (which see, below).
- n. Conduct contrary to the standard of morals or righteousness, or a disposition toward such conduct; violation of the moral law; harmful intention or purpose.
- n. A harmful or wrong deed.
- Injuriously.
- Not happily; unfortunately.
- Not virtuously; not innocently.
- Not well; ill.
- To fall ill or sick.
- n. A fork; a hayfork.
- n. A halter.
Wiktionary
- adj. Intending to harm; malevolent.
- adj. Morally corrupt.
- adj. Unpleasant.
- n. The forces/behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good. Evil generally seeks own benefit at the expense of others and is based on general malevolence.
- n. Any particular individual or state which may follow these forces or behaviors.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor.
- adj. Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious.
- adj. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.
- n. Anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; -- opposed to
good . - n. Moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the principles of virtue imposed by conscience, or by the will of the Supreme Being, or by the principles of a lawful human authority; disposition to do wrong; moral offence; wickedness; depravity.
- n. malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula.
- adv. In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly.
WordNet 3.0
- n. morally objectionable behavior
- n. the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice
- adj. having the nature of vice
- n. that which causes harm or destruction or misfortune
- adj. having or exerting a malignant influence
- adj. morally bad or wrong
Etymologies
- Middle English, from Old English yfel; see wap- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“-- _God Almighty was all justice and equity: whoever labored unto good experienced good in himself; and he who toiled unto evil experienced evil_.”
“I as a theologian blame nothing but the evil appearance, of which St. Paul says, Abstain from all appearance of evil (I Thess.v. 22).”
Articles 19-27. Twenty-Seven Articles Respecting the Reformation of the Christian Estate
“Why do you think evil in your hearts?" he said, that is, _evil of me -- that I am a blasphemer_.”
“How is it possible that they pursue moral evil merely _as moral evil_, and yet pursue it as the greatest apparent good?”
“_Resolved_, That the people of Ohio now, as they have always done, look upon slavery as an evil, and unfavorable to the development of the spirit and practical benefits of free institutions; and that, entertaining these sentiments, they will at all times feel it to be their duty to use all power clearly given by the terms of the national compact, to prevent its increase, to mitigate, _and finally eradicate the evil_.”
“(see § 278) as, -- sit fūr, sit sacrilegus, at est bonus imperātor, _granted that he is a thief and a robber, yet he is a good commander_; haec sint falsa, _granted that this is false_; nē sit summum malum dolor, malum certē est, _granted that pain is not the greatest evil, yet it is certainly an evil_.”
“For all you chaps that replied to my comment below, thanks but i also agree with Mr. S. Ross when he said that we as citizens get together and practice more vigilance and report to the local authorities, and not be like the three wise monkies See no evil * hear no evil * say no evil* thats all in the past we are now looking into the future for the sake of all our Maltese citizens and no doubt although we are a small country but roar like a lion.”
“Taking an event that's been traditionally celebrated mainly by children and morphing it into a vehicle for boosting alcohol consumption brings new meaning to the term "evil spirits.”
The Huffington Post: Jeffrey Shaffer: The Ghosts of Halloween Past
“But how many times have you used the word evil to describe the untold suffering the Church imposes on impoverished families denied contraception; or the lies told to protect belief; or the propaganda that turns resource wars into holy wars; or the specter of kind-faced volunteers threatening kindergarteners with hell?”
The Huffington Post: Valerie Tarico: Should Freethinkers Shun Or Claim The Language Of Spirituality?
“When was the last time you used the word evil during an impassioned outburst of moral indignation?”
The Huffington Post: Valerie Tarico: Should Freethinkers Shun Or Claim The Language Of Spirituality?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘evil’.
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Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 137 more...
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Dirty Deeds, Acts & Villainous Arcana
Villains, evildoers, and the wonderful words to describe them.
putsch, internecine, galère, stygian, infernal, opprobrium, anathema, bruit, scurrility, mulct, misanthropic, invective and 102 more...
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emordnilap
reviled, loot, no, ta, rat, part, pit, stop, spat, ten, mad, mart and 108 more...
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Awesome Pronunciations
BRING IT ON!!!!!
!, !!, !!!, !!!!, !!!!!, peter piper, licet mihi venera..., aliquid in aere e..., SHAZAM!, dark-sided, vegan quiche...ev..., konstantinopolita... and 113 more...
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ghost
This is Ghost List 2 ( the kind that go 'boo!' ) :P
phantom, spectral, specter, spectre, spooky, poltergeist, haunt, spirit, banshee, cryptic, shadow, phantasm and 294 more...
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On with their heads!
Words that make other words with the addition of one letter at the beginning. The resulting words are tagged "behead".
men, his, yes, any, iota, limb, aged, laid, land, lead, read, word and 315 more...
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Imbible Code ✞
Christian word branding; common English word-associatives connected to Bible terminology or scripture.
I also have a general Bible-word list.god, father, son, trinity, sacrament, knowledge, serpent, flood, evil, good, spirit, revelation and 118 more...
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Describing People
eye, hair, mouth, nose, tooth, head, face, arm, hand, finger, lip, leg and 212 more...
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Semordnilap
Semordnilap is a name coined for a word or phrase that spells a different word or phrase backwards. semordnilap is itself palindromes spelled backwards. According to author O.V. Michaelsen, it was ...
was, saw, god, dog, gateman, nametag, enoteca, acetone, deliver, reviled, straw, warts and 16 more...
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discontinued analog cyborg subroutines
my first list
analogue, analog, cyborg, adaptation, survival, accessibility, analog cyborg, brain, brain damage, trauma, traumatic brain i..., tbi and 15 more...
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New Word Order
goal is governmen..., gravedigger, tragedy, hope, state department, united nations, disarmament, new world order, slavery, eugenics, unesco, illuminati and 53 more...
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I am : evil
Adjectives that are very, very bad.
evil, wicked, diabolical, nasty, demonic, corrupt, depraved, nefarious, sinister, villainous, vile, reprobate and 18 more...
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dark
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“Bored now.” – Evil Words
Is there such a thing as an evil word?
If so, prove it. (Or add it, for that matter.) -
sounds good backwards
if it sounds good backwards add it

PossibleUnderscore haha. Compare the two pronunciations! Nov 19, 2009
zaggan Every Villan Is Lemons May 21, 2009
super-logos In church we pronounce it along the lines of "e vill." Aug 18, 2008
chained_bear I feel guilty for thinking this word is incredibly sexy and has good mouthfeel. It tastes all slithery. Aug 18, 2008
oroboros Live in reverse. Nov 2, 2007
rickdog Oct 22, 2007