evil
• adjective 1 deeply immoral and malevolent. 2 embodying or associated with the devil. 3 extremely unpleasant: an evil smell. • noun 1 extreme wickedness and depravity, especially when regarded as a supernatural force. 2 something harmful or undesirable. — PHRASES the evil eye a gaze superstitiously believed to cause material harm. the Evil One archaic the Devil. speak evil of slander. — DERIVATIVES evilly adverb evilness noun. — ORIGIN Old English.
Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary
About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day
Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names
| 
