villainous
“
What separates the heroic from the villainous is the use, and abuse, of power.
View all »Definitions (12)
American Heritage Dictionary (3)
- adjective Appropriate to a villain, as in wickedness or depravity: a villainous plot.
- adjective Being or manifesting the nature of a villain: a villainous band of thieves.
- adjective Highly undesirable or offensive; obnoxious.
Century Dictionary (5)
GNU Webster's 1913 (3)
WordNet (1)
Elsewhere on the web
View all » Examples
- [471] 'That's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.' — Life Of Johnson
- As the streets grew meaner and darker and the smell more villainous, so did McCrimmon's grip on his wrench tighten. — The Lonely Sea
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What separates the heroic from the villainous is the use, and abuse, of power.
— Buffalo Pundit - Between the liquor and the tales people begin to form new ideas to themselves of things, and instead of looking on robbery as rapine and stealing as a villainous method of defrauding another, they, on the contrary, take the first for a gallant action, and the latter for a dexterous piece of cunning; by either of which they acquire the means of indulging themselves in what best suits their inclinations, without the fatigue of business or the drudgery of hard labour. — Lives Of The Most Remarkable Criminals Who have been Condemned and Executed
- 6] There can be no doubt that in the character of the villainous, corrupt, greedy, vain, lascivious, but plausible Ochihatou Mrs. Haywood intended her readers to recognize a semblance of the English minister. — The Life and Romances of Mrs Eliza Haywood
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View all »Etymologies (3)
American Heritage Dictionary
Century Dictionary (2)
- Also villanous, and archaically villenous; (villain +-ous.
- from villainous, adjective
GNU Webster's 1913 (1)
WordNet
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Pronunciations
/ (vĭlˈə-nəs)/
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American Heritage Dictionary