villain
pronunciation
How to pronounce villain in British English:
UK [ˈvɪlən]
How to pronounce villain in American English:
US [ˈvɪlən]
-
- Noun:
- a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
- the principle bad character in a film or work of fiction
Word Origin
- villain (n.)
- c. 1300 (late 12c. as a surname), "base or low-born rustic," from Anglo-French and Old French vilain "peasant, farmer, commoner, churl, yokel" (12c.), from Medieval Latin villanus "farmhand," from Latin villa "country house, farm" (see villa). The most important phases of the sense development of this word may be summed up as follows: 'inhabitant of a farm; peasant; churl, boor; clown; miser; knave, scoundrel.' Today both Fr. vilain and Eng. villain are used only in a pejorative sense. [Klein] Meaning "character in a novel, play, etc. whose evil motives or actions help drive the plot" is from 1822.
Antonym
Example
- 1. The currency wars are about more than one villain and one victim .
- 2. Whether you rated him a hero or a villain depended on your point of view .
- 3. If some villain has enough money he or she can just run a similar experiment .
- 4. The one-eyed villain sought to obtain nuclear weapons .
- 5. Not that mitt romney the businessman was a villain .