knave

noun

ˈnāv How to pronounce knave (audio)
Definition of knavenext
as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person he plays the role of the duplicitous knave who tries to foil the play's hero

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of knave The knights who always told the truth and the knaves who always lied. — Quanta Magazine, 20 Aug. 2026 Try for yourselves, ye witless knaves— Take each to bed your Sally! — Ann Manov, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 2026 Many a knave is rich, sleek, and honored, while the just man is poor, hated, and in torment. — Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 18 June 2026 Human beings are motivated by virtue (knights) or rigid self-interest (knaves), or are passive victims of their circumstances (pawns). — Sachin H. Jain, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knave
  1. villain
  2. brute
  3. devil
  4. monster
  5. savage
  6. scoundrel
Noun
  • Furious drops the ball a bit in the interactions with Emma and Jay Easton, turning them into one-dimensional caricatures instead of complex villains, but honestly, this show isn’t really about them.
    — Erin Qualey, Vulture, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Saoirse Ronan is ready to step into the dark side and is doubling down on wanting to play a villain in the James Bond universe.
    — Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of villain
Noun
  • Most sportsmen wonder how any whitetail bucks, let alone a brute such as Kontras’, could have been so easily patterned.
    — Jeff Murray, Outdoor Life, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The show’s depiction of Hugh as a family man has been much more sympathetic than the book’s description of him as a power-hungry brute.
    — James Grebey, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of brute
Noun
  • In January, Watts was a guest on actor Rainn Wilson’s podcast, where Watts played devil’s advocate to Wilson’s skeptic about casual use of mind-altering substances.
    — Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Throughout the movie, two mentors stand over each of his shoulders like an aproned angel and devil.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of devil
Noun
  • Trying to clear his name, Eddie Brock is hunted by a monster sent by the creator of the symbiotes, only to uncover a secret operation in Area 51 to harvest the creatures and exploit them.
    — K. Thor Jensen, PC Magazine, 21 Aug. 2026
  • The league is hurtling toward an ugly lockout, with owners preparing to cry poverty and demand a hard salary cap to stop the spending monster in Southern California.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of monster
Noun
  • Manson and his followers evaded police for months but were eventually arrested and charged in the savage slayings in December 1969.
    — Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 15 Aug. 2026
  • For all its characteristic restraint and formal diligence, Killing Spree is a book that wants to make noise, to cut through the dead air with cries of grief and rage, undoing our own savage torpor.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of savage
Noun
  • That range runs from scoundrels to astromechs, and a Jedi is on the table too.
    — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2026
  • But Roy Cohn—an American scoundrel and the lawyer who helped send Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair, aided Senator Joseph McCarthy in implementing the Red Scare, and showed Trump the ropes in the real-estate business—was long gone.
    — Kai Bird, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of scoundrel

Browse Nearby Words

knapsacks
knave
knaveries
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Knave.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knave. Accessed 30 Aug. 2026.

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