diabolic

American  

[dahy-uh-bol-ik] / ˌdaɪ əˈbɒl ɪk /

adjective

1. variant of diabolical.

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diabolic British  

/ ˌdaɪəˈbɒlɪk /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or proceeding from the devil; satanic

2. befitting a devil; extremely cruel or wicked; fiendish

3. very difficult or unpleasant

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Other Word Forms

• diabolically adverb
• diabolicalness noun
• nondiabolic adjective

Etymology

Origin of diabolic

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English diabolik, from Middle French or directly from Late Latin diabolicus, from Greek diabolikós, equivalent to diábo(os) devil + -ikos -ic

Example Sentences

Sheku Tarawallie, president of Sierra Leone's Council of Traditional Healers, is adamant that "diabolic" juju men like Kanu are giving healers a bad name.

From BBC • Nov. 23, 2025

Perhaps rattled by the setback, Woods may have made a mental mistake when he chose a 7-iron at the diabolic par-3 12th hole, which was playing into the stiff wind.

From New York Times • Apr. 8, 2022

To crown all, this imaginative anthology even makes room for Arthur Machen’s dizzyingly phantasmagoric “The White People,” and that chilling fairy tale of diabolic temptation, Lucy Clifford’s “The New Mother.”

From Washington Post • Feb. 23, 2021

Then, in the mid-eighteenth century, the extensive undermining began to have consequences for the upper city, causing subsidence sinkholes, known as fontis, that were reputed to be of diabolic origin.

From The New Yorker • May 23, 2019

He seemed positively diabolic in his enjoyment of our discomfort.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou