fiend

noun

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 2
a fiend at mathematics

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
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.
Both earnest viewers and splatter-drunk genre fiends can get excited by the deaths of characters who’ve been given some shading. Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 16 May 2025 Even so, that dimmer wattage does little to dull a film that plays like cine-karaoke — and as any mic fiend can attest, the glory in those moments belongs not to the singer, but the song. Ben Croll, IndieWire, 13 May 2025 But caffeine fiends beware: The only way to get coffee here is to head to the reception desk and make it in an espresso machine. Adam Hurly, Robb Report, 4 May 2025 But there’s more going on in this case beyond this particular freeloading foreign fiend trying to stay on the dole forever. Howie Carr, Boston Herald, 4 Apr. 2025 See All Example Sentences for fiend

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Old English fīend; akin to Old High German fīant enemy, Sanskrit pīyati he reviles, blames

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Fiend.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiend. Accessed 29 May. 2025.

Kids Definition

fiend

noun
1
2
: an extremely wicked or cruel person
3
a
: a person enthusiastically devoted to something
fiendish
ˈfēn-dish
adjective
fiendishly adverb
fiendishness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on fiend

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!