villain

noun

vil·​lain ˈvi-lən 

1

: a character in a story or play who opposes the hero

2

: a deliberate scoundrel or criminal

3

: one blamed for a particular evil or difficulty

automation as the villain in job … displacement

—M. H. Goldberg

4

: villein

5

: an uncouth person : boor

Synonyms

• baddie
• baddy
• beast
• brute
• caitiff
• devil
• evildoer
• fiend
• heavy
• hound
• knave
• meanie
• meany
• miscreant
• monster
• nazi
• no-good
• rapscallion
• rascal
• reprobate
• rogue
• savage
• scalawag
• scallywag
• scamp
• scapegrace
• scoundrel
• varlet
• wretch

Examples of villain in a Sentence

He plays the villain in most of his movies.

She describes her first husband as a villain who treated her terribly.

Don't try to make me the villain. It's your own fault that you're having these problems.

Recent Examples on the Web

Plot details haven’t been revealed, but Bautista will voice a villain character. —Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 18 Apr. 2024

Over the course of the conversation, host Josh Horowitz asked him if there was any truth to the fact that the studio wanted Tom Hanks or Adam Driver for the villain role. —Christy Piña, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Apr. 2024

Read Next ‘Ghostly’ creature — named after Harry Potter villain — discovered underground. —Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2024

And so, amid this unique version of Gotham City, her Joker finds her own villain origin story in wanting to break into a comedy boys’ club. —Manuel Betancourt, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2024

An unfinished trailer showed glimpses of Mescal, 28, as Lucius Verus, the nephew of the original film’s villain Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who grows to idolize deceased gladiator Maximus (Crowe). —Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2024

Bautista has been cast in a villain role, with Dionne Quan, Jessica Matten, and Roman Zaragoza rounding out the cast. —Jessica Wang, EW.com, 11 Apr. 2024

Her emotionally abusive mother sends her to conversion therapy — in this case, at the hands of Batman villain Scarecrow. —Abraham Josephine Riesman, Rolling Stone, 8 Apr. 2024

There’s also the matter of the movie’s main villain, Baba Shakti — a white-haired ultranationalist power broker who whips worshipful mobs into a frenzy and who may have looked a little too much like India’s prime minister Narendra Modi for Netflix. —Ty Burr, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English vilain, vilein, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin villanus, from Latin villa

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 4

Kids Definition

villain

noun

vil·​lain ˈvil-ən 

1

: villein

2

: an evil person : scoundrel

3

: a character in a story or play who opposes the hero