villain
a bad person
TRANSLATION
villain = der Bösewicht, der Schuft, der Schurke (woerterbuch.info) --- GOOGLE INDEX villain: approximately 10,200,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Equally, programme-makers who might once have been cautious about casting members of ethnic minorities as VILLAINS in dramas are less likely to be paralysed by political correctness than they once were.
(The Guardian Unlimited)
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One murder makes a VILLAIN, millions a hero.
- Beilby Porteus, former Bishop of Chester and London and noted Anglican reformer and abolitionist
(The Guardian Unlimited)
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One murder makes a VILLAIN, millions a hero.
- Beilby Porteus, former Bishop of Chester and London and noted Anglican reformer and abolitionist
Did you
know?
villain
noun
- a bad person who harms other people or breaks the law
- a criminal
- a character in a book, play, film, etc. who harms other people
- something or someone considered harmful or dangerous
(Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
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WORD ORIGIN
Etymology: borrowed from the Anglo-French and Old French villain/vilein and from the Medieval Latin villanus (farmhand) and Latin villa (country estate), which in turn derived from vicus, meaning village. The extended and now typical sense of an unprincipled scoundrel is implied in the earliest uses of this word. (The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology)
The next time the conversation at your backyard barbeque is slowing down, or if you want to divert your pub mate’s attention from the local football team’s latest debacle, pose the following question: "Who is literature’s greatest villain?"
Literature has portrayed some (pardon the expression) brilliant miscreants: Richard III, Iago, Captain Bligh, Uriah Heep, Grendel, Lord Voldemort (okay, that might be a huge leap from Beowulf to Joanne Rowling, but evil is evil…) The great thing about these conversations is that there is no right answer. Villains come in all shapes and sizes. Some are merely manipulative, some are masters of intrigue and some are loathsome. Others are vicious, or so bad that they epitomise evil.
Some villains are not really villains at all. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for instance, the villain is not the monster; rather it’s science. Or how about that English high school teacher who made you conjugate verbs until the fingers on your writing hand went numb? A villain? Back then perhaps, but in retrospect you should be thankful. At least you don’t have to give your children blank stares when they ask what the difference is between past progressive and present perfect progressive.
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SYNONYMS
antihero, bad guy, brute, caitiff, creep, criminal, devil, dirty dog, evildoer, heel, knave, libertine, lowlife, malefactor, meanie, miscreant, profligate, rapscallion, rascal, reprobate, rogue, scamp, scoundrel, sinner, sleazeball, slime bucket, snot, wretch
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
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ANTONYMS
hero, heroine
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
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IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
"Sorry, but I’m not the villain here. I’m just telling you what the boss said."
noun
- a bad person who harms other people or breaks the law
- a criminal
- a character in a book, play, film, etc. who harms other people
- something or someone considered harmful or dangerous
(Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
Etymology: borrowed from the Anglo-French and Old French villain/vilein and from the Medieval Latin villanus (farmhand) and Latin villa (country estate), which in turn derived from vicus, meaning village. The extended and now typical sense of an unprincipled scoundrel is implied in the earliest uses of this word. (The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology)
The next time the conversation at your backyard barbeque is slowing down, or if you want to divert your pub mate’s attention from the local football team’s latest debacle, pose the following question: "Who is literature’s greatest villain?"
Literature has portrayed some (pardon the expression) brilliant miscreants: Richard III, Iago, Captain Bligh, Uriah Heep, Grendel, Lord Voldemort (okay, that might be a huge leap from Beowulf to Joanne Rowling, but evil is evil…) The great thing about these conversations is that there is no right answer. Villains come in all shapes and sizes. Some are merely manipulative, some are masters of intrigue and some are loathsome. Others are vicious, or so bad that they epitomise evil.
Some villains are not really villains at all. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for instance, the villain is not the monster; rather it’s science. Or how about that English high school teacher who made you conjugate verbs until the fingers on your writing hand went numb? A villain? Back then perhaps, but in retrospect you should be thankful. At least you don’t have to give your children blank stares when they ask what the difference is between past progressive and present perfect progressive.
---
SYNONYMS
antihero, bad guy, brute, caitiff, creep, criminal, devil, dirty dog, evildoer, heel, knave, libertine, lowlife, malefactor, meanie, miscreant, profligate, rapscallion, rascal, reprobate, rogue, scamp, scoundrel, sinner, sleazeball, slime bucket, snot, wretch
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
ANTONYMS
hero, heroine
(Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus)
---
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
"Sorry, but I’m not the villain here. I’m just telling you what the boss said."
