evil Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun morally objectionable behavior
    iniquity; wickedness; immorality.
  2. noun that which causes harm or destruction or misfortune; the good is oft interred with their bones"- Shakespeare
    • the evil that men do lives after them
  3. noun the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice
    evilness.
    • attempts to explain the origin of evil in the world
  4. adjective morally bad or wrong
    • evil purposes
    • an evil influence
    • evil deeds
  5. adjective satellite having the nature of vice
    vicious.
  6. adjective satellite having or exerting a malignant influence
    malign; malefic; malevolent.
    • malevolent stars
    • a malefic force

WordNet

E*vil adjective
Etymology
OE. evel, evil, ifel, uvel, AS. yfel; akin to OFries, evel, D. euvel, OS. & OHG. ubil, G. übel, Goth. ubils, and perh. to E. over.
Definitions
  1. 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.
    A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit. Matt. vii. 18.
  2. Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like.
    Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, When death's approach is seen so terrible. Shak.
  3. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days.
    Because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. Deut. xxii. 19.
    The owl shrieked at thy birth -- an evil sign. Shak.
    Evil news rides post, while good news baits. Milton.
    ✍ Evil is sometimes written as the first part of a compound (with or without a hyphen). In many cases the compounding need not be insisted on. Examples: Evil doer or evildoer, evil speakink or evil-speaking, evil worker, evil wishink, evil-hearted, evil-minded. Syn. -- Mischieveous; pernicious; injurious; hurtful; destructive; wicked; sinful; bad; corrupt; perverse; wrong; vicious; calamitious.
E"vil noun
Definitions
  1. 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.
    Evils which our own misdeeds have wrought. Milton.
    The evil that men do lives after them. Shak.
  2. 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.
    The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. Eccl. ix. 3.
  3. malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula. R. Shak.
    He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil. Addison.
E"vil adverb
Definitions
  1. In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly. Shak.
    It went evil with his house. 1 Chron. vii. 23.
    The Egyptians evil entreated us, and affected us. Deut. xxvi. 6.

Webster 1913