Definitions for evil
ˈi vəlevil

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:4.0 / 1 vote

1. evil, immorality, wickedness, iniquitynoun

   morally objectionable behavior

2. evilnoun

   that which causes harm or destruction or misfortune

   "the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones"- Shakespeare

3. evil, evilnessadjective

   the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice

   "attempts to explain the origin of evil in the world"

4. eviladjective

   morally bad or wrong

   "evil purposes"; "an evil influence"; "evil deeds"

5. evil, viciousadjective

   having the nature of vice

6. malefic, malevolent, malign, eviladjective

   having or exerting a malignant influence

   "malevolent stars"; "a malefic force"

WiktionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. evilnoun

   The forces/behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good. Evil generally seeks own benefit at the expense of others and is based on general malevolence.

   The evils of society include murder.

2. evilnoun

   Any particular individual or state which may follow these forces or behaviors.

3. eviladjective

   Intending to harm; malevolent.

4. eviladjective

   Morally corrupt.

5. eviladjective

   Unpleasant.

6. Etymology: yfel, from ubilaz (compare East Frisian eeuwel, Dutch euvel, German übel), from *hupélos, diminutive of hu̯op 'treat badly' (compare huwappi 'to mistreat, harass', huwappa 'evil, badness').

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. EVILadjective

   Etymology: ywel, Saxon; cuvel, Dutch.

   1. Having bad qualities of any kind; not good.

   He hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. Deut. xxii. 19.

   An evil disease cleaveth fast unto him; and now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more. Ps. xli. 8.

   The good fig’s very good, and the evil very evil, that cannot be eaten they are so evil. Jeremiah xxiv. 3.

   That hour he cured many of evil spirits. Luke vii. 21.

   2. Wicked; bad; corrupt.

   Is thine eye evil, because I am good? Matt. xx. 15.

   The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Gen.

   3. Unhappy; miserable; calamitous.

   And the officers did see that they were in evil case. Ex. v.

   All the days of the afflicted are evil. Prov. xv. 15.

   4. Mischievous; destructive; ravenous.

   It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him. Gen.

2. Eviladverb

   Etymology: commonly contracted to ill.

   1. Not well in whatever respect.

   Ah, forward Clarence, evil it beseems thee,
   To flatter Henry, and forsake thy brother! William Shakespeare, Hen. VI.

   2. Not well; not virtuously; not innocently.

   If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me. John xviii. 22.

   3. Not well; not happily; not fortunately.

   It went evil with his house. Deut. vii. 23.

   4. Injuriously; not kindly.

   The Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us. Deut. xxvi.

   5. It is often used in composition to give a bad meaning to a word; but in this, as in all other cases, it is in the modern dialect generally contracted to ill.

3. Evilnoun

   generally contracted to ill.

   1. Wickedness; a crime.

   Not in the legions
   Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn’d
   In evils to top Macbeth. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

   2. Injury; mischief.

   Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. Prov. xvii. 13.

   Let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my Lord, be as Nabal. 1 Sa. xxv. 26.

   3. Malignity; corruption.

   The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Eccles. ix. 3.

   4. Misfortune; calamity.

   Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil. Job ii. 10.

   A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself. Prov.

   If we will stand boggling at imaginary evils, let us never blame a horse for starting at a shadow. Roger L'Estrange.

   Evil is what is apt to produce or increase any pain, or diminish any pleasure in us; or else to procure us any evil, or deprive us of any good. John Locke.

   5. Malady; disease: as, the king’s evil.

   At his touch,
   Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand,
   They presently amend.
   ———— What’s the disease he means?
   ———— ’Tis call’d the evil. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. evil

   Evil, sometimes listed as "Evil (Is Going On)", is a Chicago blues standard written by Willie Dixon. Howlin' Wolf recorded the song for Chess Records in 1954. It was included on the 1959 compilation album Moanin' in the Moonlight. When he re-recorded it for The Howlin' Wolf Album in 1969, "Evil" became Wolf's last charting single, reaching number 43 Billboard R&B chart. The 1954 song features sidemen Hubert Sumlin and Jody Williams on guitars, Otis Spann on piano, Willie Dixon on double-bass, and Earl Phillips on drums. Wolf achieves a coarse, emotional performance with his strained singing, lapsing into falsetto. The song, a twelve-bar blues, is punctuated with a syncopated backbeat, brief instrumental improvisations, upper-end piano figures, and intermittent blues harp provided by Wolf. The lyrics caution about the "evil" that takes place in a man's home when he is away, concluding with "you better watch your happy home". The song has been recorded by numerous artists, including: Luther Allison, Canned Heat, Captain Beefheart, Derek and the Dominos, Gary Moore, Cactus, The Faces, Dee Snider (with Widowmaker), Jake E. Lee, Monster Magnet, The Dead Daisies, Steve Miller and Clutch. Koko Taylor's version of the song appeared in the 1987 film Adventures in Babysitting. Tom Jones recorded a version of the song in 2011, produced by Jack White. It includes a snippet of The Doors' "Wild Child". Jace Everett and C. C. Adcock also recorded a version, which was used as the featured song for the third season finale of the HBO series True Blood. Greta Van Fleet also played the song regularly in their concerts in 2017.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. evil

   Evil typically refers to any action, behavior, event or concept that is morally wrong or brings harm, suffering, or misfortune. These actions are often characterized by selfishness, malice, or a deliberate intent to cause unnecessary harm. It can also refer to a powerful destructive force or something that is profoundly immoral. The interpretation of what constitutes "evil" can vary widely based on cultural, social, religious, philosophical, or personal beliefs.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:5.0 / 1 vote

1. Eviladjective

   having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil beast; and evil plant; an evil crop

2. Eviladjective

   having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like

3. Eviladjective

   producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days

4. Evilnoun

   anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; -- opposed to good

5. Evilnoun

   moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the principles of virtue imposed by conscience, or by the will of the Supreme Being, or by the principles of a lawful human authority; disposition to do wrong; moral offence; wickedness; depravity

6. Evilnoun

   malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula

7. Eviladverb

   in an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Evil

   Evil is profound immorality. In certain religious contexts evil has been described as a supernatural force. Definitions of evil vary, as does the analysis of its root motives and causes. However elements that are commonly associated with evil involve unbalanced behavior involving expediency, selfishness, ignorance, or neglect. In cultures with Manichaean and Abrahamic religious influence, evil is usually perceived as the dualistic antagonistic opposite of good, in which good should prevail and evil should be defeated. In cultures with Buddhist spiritual influence, both good and evil are perceived as part of an antagonistic duality that itself must be overcome through achieving Śūnyatā meaning emptiness in the sense of recognition of good and evil being two opposing principles but not a reality, emptying the duality of them, and achieving a oneness. The philosophical question of whether morality is absolute or relative leads to questions about the nature of evil, with views falling into one of four opposed camps: moral absolutism, amoralism, moral relativism, and moral universalism. While the term is applied to events and conditions without agency, the forms of evil addressed in this article presume an evildoer or doers.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Evil

   ē′vl, adj. wicked: mischievous: disagreeable: unfortunate.—adv. in an evil manner: badly.—n. that which produces unhappiness or calamity: harm: wickedness: depravity: sin.—ns. E′vil-do′er, one who does evil; E′vil-eye, a supposed power to cause evil or harm by the look of the eye.—adj. E′vil-fā′voured, having a repulsive appearance: ugly.—n. E′vil-fā′vouredness (B.), ugliness: deformity.—adv. E′villy, in an evil manner: not well.—adj. E′vil-mind′ed, inclined to evil: malicious: wicked.—ns. E′vilness, state of being evil: wickedness; E′vil-speak′ing, the speaking of evil: slander.—adj. E′vil-starred (Tenn.), born under the influence of an unpropitious star, unfortunate.—n. E′vil-work′er, one who works or does evil.—The Evil One, the devil.—Speak evil of, to slander. [A.S. yfel; Dut. euvel; Ger. übel. Ill is a doublet.]

The New Hacker's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. evil

   As used by hackers, implies that some system, program, person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be not worth the bother of dealing with. Unlike the adjectives in the cretinous/losing/brain-damaged series, evil does not imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of goals or design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's. This usage is more an esthetic and engineering judgment than a moral one in the mainstream sense. “We thought about adding a Blue Glue interface but decided it was too evil to deal with.” “TECO is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're prone to typos.” Often pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/. Compare evil and rude.

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. evil

   Song lyrics by evil -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by evil on the Lyrics.com website.

2. EVIL

   What does EVIL stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the EVIL acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Bad
   • Evildoing

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'evil' in Nouns Frequency: #2193

2. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'evil' in Adjectives Frequency: #749

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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Anagrams for evil »

1. Levi

2. live

3. veil

4. vile

5. vlei

How to pronounce evil?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say evil in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of evil in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of evil in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of evil in a Sentence

1. Samantha Bee:

   Tearing children away from their parents is so evil, it's the inciting incident in almost every movie we've ever cared about.

2. Hicran Danisman:

   The prosecutor didn't watch the movie and he defined Gollum as 'the monster in a bad role'. But we said Gollum can't be defined as evil. The character itself is a war between good and bad. He is basically seen as a victim of society, the judge said he was familiar with the movie but he couldn't decide whether Gollum was good or bad.

3. George Eliot:

   No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from.

4. Mike Pompeo:

   It should also remind us all what is too easy to turn away from : there is evil in the world and the barbarians leading North Korea are a part of North Korea, one of the highlights of my time as secretary of state was bringing home three Americans from the clutches of such a regime. But the joy I felt that night was tempered by the knowledge that we could not do the same for Otto Warmbier and Otto Warmbier family. The promising future of Otto Warmbier was crushed by North Korea’s inhumanity. This makes our duty to remember Otto Warmbier so real for me. It would be fitting to name this street in New York City in honor of Otto Warmbier as a reminder to the North Koreans, and to the world, that America will never suffer brutal dictators without responding, that we value life and that we will not rest until those responsible for heinous actions like theirs have been confronted.

5. Aesop:

   Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=evil
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Evil
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=evil
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/evil
7. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=evil
8. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=evil
9. ^ The New Hacker's Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3008/3008-h/3008-h.htm#Evil
10. ^ Usage in printed sources
    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=evil