Definitions for villainˈvɪl ən

Random House Webster's College Dictionary

vil•lainˈvɪl ən(n.)

a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
Category: Literature
Category: Law, Western History
Ref: villein.

Origin of villain:

1275–1325; < MF < LL villānus a farm servant

Princeton's WordNet

villain, scoundrel(noun)
a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
villain, baddie(noun)
the principal bad character in a film or work of fiction

Kernerman English Learner's Dictionary

villain(noun)ˈvɪl ən
a bad character in a movie or book
It's not obvious who the villains are at the beginning.
villainˈvɪl ən
a criminal or an immoral person
a notorious villain

Wiktionary

villain(Noun)
A vile, wicked person.
villain(Noun)
The bad person in a work of fiction; often the main antagonist of the hero.
villain(Noun)
A villain was in a low level of medieval serfdom. A cotter may have been lower.

Origin: Probably villein, from villain (modern: vilain), in turn from Late , meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul.

Webster Dictionary

Villain(noun)
one who holds lands by a base, or servile, tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest class, a bondman or servant
Villain(noun)
a baseborn or clownish person; a boor
Villain(noun)
a vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a scamp
Villain(adj)
villainous
Villain(verb)
to debase; to degrade