wicked

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Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law, and he has a sister who was once a thespian in wicked New York.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. adjective Evil by nature and in practice: "this wicked man Hitler, the repository and embodiment of many forms of soul-destroying hatred” (Winston S. Churchill).
  2. adjective Playfully malicious or mischievous: a wicked prank; a critic's wicked wit.
  3. adjective Severe and distressing: a wicked cough; a wicked gash; wicked driving conditions.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (5)

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Examples

  • This was one of the atrocious accusations from which he did not except me in his remark; that none but the wicked were alone: and the meaning of his pathetic exclamation with the et cetera, which he had benignantly added: A woman of eighty years of age, etc. —  The Confessions of J J Rousseau
  • The young man stood in the aisle before the pulpit all the time of the sermon, not speaking a word till the sermon and prayer after it were ended, and then spoke a few words to the priest, of which all that I could hear was, “That the prayer of the wicked is abomination to the Lord, and that God heareth not sinners.” —  The History of Thomas Ellwood Written by Himself
  • Not only that, but this man is reliably reported to practice nepotism with his sister-in-law, and he has a sister who was once a thespian in wicked New York. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol X No 1
  • But by no means all such mistakes result in "wicked" texts. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VI No 4
  • We may doubt, indeed, whether the general assertion he made as to death had much weight with the Senators when he told them that death to the wicked was a relief, whereas life was a lasting punishment; but when he went on to remind them of the Lex Porcia, by which the power of punishing a Roman citizen, even under the laws, was limited to banishment, unless by a plebiscite of the people generally ordering death, then he was efficacious. —  The Life of Cicero
 

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Wicked has been looked up 709 times, favorited 3 times, listed 74 times, and commented on once.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

cruel ·  foolish ·  vile ·  ugly ·  malicious ·  treacherous ·  mad ·  miserable
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, alteration of wicke, ultimately from Old English wicca, sorcerer; see witch.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English wicked, wikked, wikkid, wykked, wykkyd, evil, bad, from wick, wicke, wikke, bad, + -ed, as if past participle of a verb *wikken, render evil or witch-like: see wickand witch.
  2. from wick + -ed, here merely an adjective extension.
 

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/ˈwɪkɛd/
by American Heritage

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