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VILLAIN
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
Synonyms:
scoundrel; villain
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("villain" is a kind of...):
persona non grata; unwelcome person (a person who for some reason is not wanted or welcome)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "villain"):
blackguard; bounder; cad; dog; heel; hound (someone who is morally reprehensible)
gallows bird (a person who deserves to be hanged)
knave; rapscallion; rascal; rogue; scalawag; scallywag; varlet (a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel)
villainess (a woman villain)
Derivation:
villainous (extremely wicked)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The principal bad character in a film or work of fiction
Synonyms:
baddie; villain
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("villain" is a kind of...):
character; part; persona; role; theatrical role (an actor's portrayal of someone in a play)
Context examples:
“Mas'r Davy,” exclaimed Ham, in a broken voice, “it ain't no fault of yourn—and I am far from laying of it to you—but his name is Steerforth, and he's a damned villain!”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He cannot be the instigator of the three villains in horsemen's greatcoats, by whom she will hereafter be forced into a traveling-chaise and four, which will drive off with incredible speed.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Frank Churchill was a villain.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
What I felt on hearing that your sister was dying—and dying too, believing me the greatest villain upon earth, scorning, hating me in her latest moments—for how could I tell what horrid projects might not have been imputed?
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Yaas, to be sure I do, drawled Lord Ingram; and the poor old stick used to cry out 'Oh you villains childs!'—and then we sermonised her on the presumption of attempting to teach such clever blades as we were, when she was herself so ignorant.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
For having strictly examined all the persons of greatest name in the courts of princes, for a hundred years past, I found how the world had been misled by prostitute writers, to ascribe the greatest exploits in war, to cowards; the wisest counsel, to fools; sincerity, to flatterers; Roman virtue, to betrayers of their country; piety, to atheists; chastity, to sodomites; truth, to informers: how many innocent and excellent persons had been condemned to death or banishment by the practising of great ministers upon the corruption of judges, and the malice of factions: how many villains had been exalted to the highest places of trust, power, dignity, and profit: how great a share in the motions and events of courts, councils, and senates might be challenged by bawds, whores, pimps, parasites, and buffoons.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
It shall not go to villains.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
“You villain!” said he, “where’s your daughter?”
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
This villain had thought that I would be at sea before the news could reach me, and that I should be lost for years in Africa.
(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Four villains, with Berks at their head, got the start of us by several hours.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
