evil

evil (ē′vəl)

adjective

1. morally bad or wrong; wicked; depraved
2. resulting from or based on conduct regarded as immoral an evil reputation
causing pain or trouble; harmful; injurious
offensive or disgusting an evil odor
threatening or bringing misfortune; unlucky; disastrous; unfortunate an evil hour
angry, irritable, disagreeable, etc. in an evil mood

Etymology: ME ivel < OE yfel, akin to Ger übel < IE *upelo- < base *upo-, up from under > up, Sans upa, toward

adverb

in an evil, wicked, or offensive way: now only in hyphenated compounds evil-hearted

noun

e′vil·ly adverb e′vil·ness noun

the Evil One

the Devil; Satan

modif.

The quality of being evil
sin, wickedness, depravity, crime, sinfulness, corruption, vice, immorality, iniquity, knavery, perversity, badness, villainy, vileness, baseness, meanness, infamy, heinousness, enormity, criminality, nefariousness, malignity, impiety, malevolence, viciousness, wrong, degeneracy, debauchery, decadence, looseness, lewdness, licentiousness, dissoluteness, wantonness, grossness, turpitude, wrongdoing, darkness, foulness, degradation, worm in the apple, the devil within one, obscenity, profligacy, devilry, diabolism, fiendishness.
Antonyms virtue*, good*, goodness. *
A harmful or malicious action
ill, harm, injury, damage, mischief, misfortune, wrong, scandal, calamity, pollution, contamination, catastrophe, blow, disaster, plague, curse, outrage, atrocity, abomination, foul play, ill wind*, crying shame*, machinations of the Devil*.

Preposition: of

slavery: Illustrative of the evils of slavery and commemorative of its abolition in the British colonies.
terrorism: This is the challenge before us as we seek to eliminate the evil of terrorism.

Converse of object

overcome: I want to overcome evil with good, in your name.
perpetrate: By the time they returned, the ten were prepared, and indeed perpetrated an evil which we are still shedding tears over.
conquer: Jesus is the only person who has ever lived who conquered evil and death.
confront: Join a nightmarish journey through faith and betrayal as the infamous warrior Jubei returns to confront the ultimate evil!
repay: Please help me not to return insults or fight back at people to repay evil for evil.
lurk: And where these two categories intersect, there lurks only one evil: video games.

Adjective modifier

lesser: It¹s not about the triumph of good over evil, it¹s about whether you can use a lesser evil to avoid a greater.
pure: But never has he looked upon the face of pure evil... until now.
unmitigated: Or is that also an unmitigated evil without any good at all?
necessary: Or have you decided its just a necessary evil to support your art?
moral: Atheists have to try to find a different response to suffering and moral evil.

Modifies a noun

spirit: Do not be cruel to me 29 For he gave an order to the evil spirit to come out of the man.
deed: They wanted to keep it secret, they wanted to hide their evil deeds from the populace at large.
genius: However, he is an evil genius, masterminding grand schemes, and the head of a multimillion-pound criminal empire.
doer: The instability in Serbia also led to what Hungarian sources describe as ' robbers and evil doers ' raiding across the borders.
empire: Ed: Isn't that last factor a bit like the evil empire in Redmond?
dictator: When Grainger was laying out this area Nelson was still a popular often remembered British hero who overcame the evil dictator against all odds.

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