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 Now, the painting has been restored to include the original fiend. Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 10 Nov. 2023 Libra Season is for the culture fiends and museum pass holders. Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 28 Aug. 2023 Sure, there are the sushi and soba-noodle chasers, but there are also wellness lovers, hikers, art fiends, and everything in between. Megan Spurrell, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2023 Caffeine fiends, mark your calendars What goes better with a doughnut than coffee? Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Sep. 2023 Lillian and her late husband, Frank, were absolute fiends for efficiency. Johanna Mayer, Scientific American, 21 Sep. 2023 The most gruesome is the most ludicrous — either McCall pushing the pressure points in a fiend’s hand (warning of his bowel evacuation) or McCall plunging a pistol into a mafioso’s eye socket. Armond White, National Review, 1 Sep. 2023 October 31 may not be the biggest greeting card holiday of the year, but that doesn't mean fiends and fam won't love getting one with a personal line or two from you. Jill Gleeson, Country Living, 11 Aug. 2023 Standing at a teeny-tiny two and a half inches tall and weighing less than two grams, these little sugar fiends are natural wonders. Anna Nordseth, Discover Magazine, 1 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fiend.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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

Dictionary Entries Near fiend

Cite this Entry

“Fiend.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiend. Accessed 30 Nov. 2023.

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

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