evil
[noun]
Synonyms:
- wickedness, badness, depravity, malignity, sin, vice, villainy, wrongdoing
- harm, affliction, disaster, hurt, ill, injury, mischief, misfortune, suffering, woe
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- wicked, bad, depraved, immoral, malevolent, malicious, sinful, villainous
- harmful, calamitous, catastrophic, destructive, dire, disastrous, pernicious, ruinous
- offensive, foul, noxious, pestilential, unpleasant, vile

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Antonyms: good, innocuous
Contrasted words: goodness, virtue, rectitude, righteousness, high, noble, exemplary, salutary, harmless, noninjurious, auspicious, favorable, lucky, easy, prosperous, halcyon, happy
Related Words: bad, badness, devilry, diablerie, diabolism, evilness, satanism, satanity, wickedness, wrong, evildoing, misconduct, sinfulness, wrongdoing, maleficence, vice, misdeed, offense, base, low, vile, flagitious, nefarious, baneful, pernicious, black, damnable, execrable, distasteful, repellent, fetid, putrid, stinking, angry, disagreeable, ugly, unpleasant, wrathful, harmful, hurtful, injurious, mischievous, destructive, calamitous, disastrous, baleful, inauspicious, ill-boding, ill-omened, ominous, unfavorable, unfortunate, unlucky, difficult, hard, trying

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. e‧vil¹ S3 W3 /ˈiːvəl/ adjective
[Language: Old English; Origin: yfel]

1. BAD someone who is evil deliberately does very cruel things to harm other people:
an evil dictator responsible for the deaths of millions
his evil deeds

2. WRONG something that is evil is morally wrong because it harms people Synonym : wicked:
They condemned slavery as evil.

3. UNPLEASANT very unpleasant:
an evil smell
a puddle of evil black liquid

4. DEVIL connected with the Devil and having special powers to harm people:
evil spirits
an evil spell

5. the evil eye the power, which some people believe exists, to harm people by looking at them:
He claimed to have the power of the evil eye.

6. the evil hour/day etc a time when you expect something unpleasant or difficult to happen:
Don’t delay, you’re only putting off the evil hour.
—evilly adverb:
Jeff grinned evilly as he picked up the phone.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. evil² noun

1. [countable] something that is very bad or harmful:
She wanted to protect her children from the evils of the outside world.
Poverty is one of the greatest social evils of our time.
the evils of capitalism

2. [uncountable] cruel or morally bad behaviour in general Antonym : good:
There is too much evil in the world.
the eternal struggle between good and evil
⇒ the lesser of two evils at lesser(2), ⇒ necessary evil at necessary¹(3)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

evil
adj.
VERBS be, look, seem | become
ADV. really, truly, very | wholly | basically, inherently, intrinsically He believes that all people are basically evil.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

evil
noun
ADJ. great | lesser This sort of job is a lesser evil than unemployment.
moral, social combating the social evils of poverty, disease and ignorance
VERB + EVIL do His simple message was that God will punish those that do evil.
combat, fight, resist, turn (away) from You can always choose to resist evil.
PHRASES the forces of evil a perpetual struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil
good and evil not a simple choice between good and evil
the root of all evil He sees money as the root of all evil.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

evil

a great/greater evil
He saw fascism as the greatest evil of his times.
a lesser evil (=a bad thing, but not as bad as something else)
She knew that she couldn't leave the children, so she opted for the lesser evil and stayed.
a necessary evil (=something that is bad but necessary)
Most businesses see government regulation as a necessary evil.
a social evil (=something bad that happens in human society)
The community is being torn apart by poverty, drug abuse and other social evils.
a moral evil (=a bad thing in relation to principles of what is right and wrong)
Mental or physical torture is a moral evil, and it can never be justified.
fight/combat evil
Joan swore to fight evil in all its forms.
good and evil
You have to teach your kids about right and wrong, good and evil.
the forces of evil literary (=the people or things that increase the amount of evil in the world)
The king knew he must fight the forces of evil or his homeland would perish.
something is the root of all evil (=something is the main cause of bad things)
Love of money is the root of all evil.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲