fiend

noun

\ ˈfēnd

\

Definition of fiend

1a : devil sense 1

b : demon

c : a person of great wickedness or maliciousness

2 : a person extremely devoted to a pursuit or study : fanatic a golf fiend

3 : addict sense 1 a dope fiend

4 : wizard sense 3 a fiend at mathematics

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Examples of fiend in a Sentence

His hands were trembling, actually trembling, as if he were some sort of coffee fiend or something. — T. Coraghessan Boyle, The Road to Wellville, 1993 Wodehouse may not have liked Dickens, but he certainly read him. He read like a fiend. — Christopher Hitchens, Times Literary Supplement, 7-13 Sept. 1990 The shameless effrontery of the fiend, at the café, pretending to forget all he had done to her, begging to take up with her again, as if nothing had happened between them a dozen years ago. — Irving Wallace, The Plot, 1967 a fiend in human form He's a real golf fiend.

Recent Examples on the Web

Ahead of the game's launch, the custom-controller fiends at 8Bitdo sent us their new GBros. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Smash Bros. Ultimate review: The best fighting game on any Nintendo system," 6 Dec. 2018 Pusha delivers a clear message through his brash lyricism and usual drug fiend raps, which includes a clear start and punctuation mark. — Michael Saponara, Billboard, "Pusha T & Drake's Feud, Kanye's G.O.O.D. Music Domination, XXXTentacion's Death, 'Scorpion' & More: Recapping a Wild 40 Days in Hip-Hop," 2 July 2018 Entire gameplay systems were redesigned and rebalanced, and there was now plenty of content for hardcore loot fiends to grind through. — Aaron Zimmerman, Ars Technica, "Destiny 2: Forsaken review: Hallelujah, Destiny’s back," 19 Sep. 2018 Calling all home decor fiends and kitchen aficionados. — Alexis Jones, Woman's Day, "Williams-Sonoma Is Hiring 3,500 Work-From-Home Positions," 28 Aug. 2018 Any true health fiend knows, though, that the wind-down is just as important as the rev-up. — Zoe Ruffner, Vogue, "The 11 Best Gifts for the Wellness Warrior in Your Life," 14 Nov. 2018 One man just tried to stab a Republican candidate as the fiend allegedly cursed Trump. — Greg Gutfeld, Fox News, "Gutfeld on rhetoric causing violence," 13 Sep. 2018 Highlighter fiends rejoice: Juvia’s Place just teased two new loose powder highlighters on Instagram that promise to be intensely pigmented. — Macaela Mackenzie, Allure, "Juvia's Place Gave a Sneak Peek of the New Nubian Loose Highlighters," 20 Aug. 2018 Turns out Chieng is something of a wandering, Bourdain-like food fiend, who has Google Maps literally star-studded with his favorite restaurants and bars. — Laura Dannen Redman, Condé Nast Traveler, "Ronny Chieng on 'Crazy Rich Asians,' Singapore Eats, and Coming Up in Melbourne," 9 Aug. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fiend.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near fiend

field woundwort

Statistics for fiend

Last Updated

21 Jan 2019

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for fiend

The first known use of fiend was before the 12th century

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More Definitions for fiend

fiend

noun

English Language Learners Definition of fiend

: an evil spirit : a demon or devil

: a very evil or cruel person

: a person who is very enthusiastic about something

See the full definition for fiend in the English Language Learners Dictionary

fiend

noun

\ ˈfēnd

\

Kids Definition of fiend

1 : demon sense 1, devil

2 : a very wicked or cruel person

3 : fanatic entry 2 a golf fiend

Other Words from fiend

fiendish \ ˈfēn-dish \ adjective a fiendish trick

fiendishly adverb

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