Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A wicked or evil person; a scoundrel.
- n. A dramatic or fictional character who is typically at odds with the hero.
- n. Variant of villein.
- n. Something said to be the cause of particular trouble or an evil: poverty, the villain in the increase of crime.
- n. Obsolete A peasant regarded as vile and brutish.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A member of the lowest class of unfree persons during the prevalence of the feudal system; a feudal serf. In respect to their lords or owners the villains had no rights, except that the lord might not kill or maim them, or ravish the females; they could acquire or hold no property against their lord's will; they were obliged to perform all the menial services he demanded; and the cottages and plots of land they occupied were held merely at his will. In respect, however, of other persons besides their lord they had the rights and privileges of freemen. Villains were either regardant (which see) or in gross. They were in view of the law annexed to the soil (adscripti or adscriptitii glebæ), belonging to a manor as fixtures, passing with it when it was conveyed or inherited, and they could not be sold or transferred as persons separate from the land. The latter belonged personally to their lord, who could sell or transfer them at will.
- n. Hence An ignoble or base-born person generally; a boor, peasant, or clown.
- n. A man of ignoble or base character; especially, one who is guilty or capable of gross wickedness; a scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a rogue: often used humorously in affectionate or jocose reproach.
- Of or pertaining to, or consisting of, villains or serfs.
- Characteristic of or befitting a villain or slave; servile; base; villainous.
- To debase; degrade; villainize.
Wiktionary
- n. this sense?) (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought): A vile, wicked person.
- n. An extremely depraved person, or one capable or guilty of great crimes.
- n. A deliberate scoundrel.
- n. The bad person in a work of fiction; often the main antagonist of the hero.
- n. A villain was in a low level of medieval serfdom. A cotter may have been lower.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who holds lands by a base, or servile, tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest class, a bondman or servant.
- n. A baseborn or clownish person; a boor.
- n. A vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a scamp.
- adj. Villainous.
- v. To debase; to degrade.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the principal bad character in a film or work of fiction
- n. a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
Etymologies
- Middle English vilein, feudal serf, person of coarse feelings, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *vīllānus, feudal serf, from Latin vīlla, country house; see weik-1 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Their main villain is a criminal who was teleported with them and thus has the same powers as them.”
Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Tom’s Review Forum
“Jensen Ackles brings a suitable cocky menace to the title villain, but he too sounds a bit like a Will Friedle, who played a protege of the elder Bruce Wayne in the futuristic Batman Beyond.”
The Huffington Post: Scott Mendelson: Blu Ray Review: Batman: Under the Hood (2010)
“The main villain is the trickster Coyote in Southwestern Native American (and Norse) myths, and other supernatural characters come from Native American legends.”
“By the end, it seems to be revealed that their main villain is this weird-looking nekomimi guy with a not-so-good fashion sense.”
Anime Preview: Fall 2008 First Impressions – Batch 2 « Undercover
“These circumstances combined to attach to the term villain ideas of crime and guilt, in so forcible a manner that the application of the epithet even to those to whom it legally belonged became an affront, and was abstained from whenever no affront was intended.”
“Kevin Spacey lets his mean streak run wild in 'Richard III' at BAM Alastair Muir/AP Kevin Spacey as the title villain in Shakespeare's 'Richard III”
“The term villain stems from Roman times and was used to describe someone who worked the land but was without honour.”
“NO '' (1962): Sean Connery's first screen outing as James Bond pits novelist Ian Fleming's superspy against the title villain (Joseph Wiseman), who is interfering with rocket launches.”
“I love how you forgot that Ozzy being a villain is a spoiler.”
““After years of taking my sons to the movies and having them leave the theatre with the villain as their favorite character, we decided to make a movie where the villain is the protagonist.””
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘villain’.
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Eesily missspellable words
absence, abundance, accessible, accidentally, acclaim, accommodate, accomplish, accordion, accumulate, achievement, acquaintance, across and 420 more...
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Unknown
coalition, cabinet, tweet, defuse, steep, ancestral, mindset, breach, infraction, egregious, curb, backbite and 280 more...
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Headlines & Newsmakers
frugality, environment, extinction, bible, killer, jazz, cloning, dead, god, moon, global warming, bailout and 338 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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Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 376 more...
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Sardanapalian
sardanapalian, villain, breathe, legion, melt, death, juliet, dying, endless, breathtaking, devil, vis-à-vis and 13 more...
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people (bad)
nouns for bad people / words that describe bad people.
goto the good people list
( people, character, descriptor, noun )culprit, perpetrator, tormentor, swindler, bamboozler, nincompoop, thief, liar, back stabber, vandal, burglar, cheater and 85 more...

Kristianto2010 Usually, those problems found their source in Tom’s arch-enemy, Crabby Appleton. To this day, I remember how this villain was described on the show. He was “Crabby Appleton—rotten to the core.
Feb 27, 2011