villain

[ vil-uhn ]

noun

1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.

   Synonyms: scamp, rogue, rapscallion, rascal, knave

2. a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
3. a person or thing considered to be the cause of something bad:

   Fear is the villain that can sabotage our goals.

4. villein.

villain

/ ˈvɪlən /

noun

1. a wicked or malevolent person
2. (in a novel, play, film, etc) the main evil character and antagonist to the hero
3. humorous.
   a mischievous person; rogue
4. slang:police.
   a criminal
5. history a variant spelling of villein
6. obsolete.
   an uncouth person; boor

Derived Forms

• ˈvillainess, noun:feminine

Other Words From

• sub·villain noun
• under·villain noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of villain¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English vilein, vilain “churlish rustic, serf,” from Middle French, from Vulgar Latin and Medieval Latin villānus “a farm servant, farmhand”; villa, -an

Word History and Origins

Origin of villain¹

C14: from Old French vilein serf, from Late Latin vīllānus worker on a country estate, from Latin: villa

Example Sentences

Each series is a cat-and-mouse story, with the hero and the villain identified from the beginning, though exactly who is the cat and who the mouse is an evolving, revolving situation.

From Los Angeles Times

When a film’s villain so obviously views women as props, the film itself needs to do better.

From Los Angeles Times

Joyce could be framed as the villain of the show, but she’s not.

From Los Angeles Times

So yeah, she could absolutely be a villain.

From Los Angeles Times

But she can’t resist doing the same when talking about Sofia Gigante, née Falcone, her crime-boss villain in HBO’s “The Penguin.”

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• antihero
• bad guy
• baddie
• baddy
• criminal
• devil
• scoundrel
• sinner