What Is the Difference Between vicious, villainous, and nefarious?
Nefarious comes from the Latin adjective nefarius and the Latin noun nefas, which means "crime." Nefas is a combination of ne- ("not") and fas, meaning "right" or "divine law."
vicious may directly oppose virtuous in implying moral depravity, or may connote malignancy, cruelty, or destructive violence.
a vicious gangster
villainous applies to any evil, depraved, or vile conduct or characteristic.
a villainous assault
iniquitous implies absence of all signs of justice or fairness.
an iniquitous system of taxation
nefarious suggests flagrant breaching of time-honored laws and traditions of conduct.
the nefarious rackets of organized crime
corrupt stresses a loss of moral integrity or probity causing betrayal of principle or sworn obligations.
city hall was rife with corrupt politicians
degenerate suggests having sunk to an especially vicious or enervated condition.
a degenerate regime propped up by foreign powers
Examples of nefarious in a Sentence
Moreover, those starry-eyed states inclined to perceive international relations in moral terms frequently underestimate the nefarious machinations of their competitors on the world political stage.—Richard Wolin, New Republic, 4 June 2001… I always give the same response: Just because Frank posed for pictures with every leading capo, underboss and cement contractor of the day doesn't mean that he joined them in their nefarious underworld activities. Oh, occasionally he rode along on a hit or two, but that was just one of those social obligations …—Lewis Grossberger, Time, 21 Dec. 1998Three-tenths of a mile uphill from our mailbox on the road, that bend is so nefarious that neophytes often skidded into a snowbank or wound up fender-deep in mud there.—Maxine Kumin, In Deep, 1987
a nefarious scheme to cheat people out of their money
the chaste heroines and nefarious villains of old-time melodramas
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Occasionally other nefarious actors would create their own webpages with similar domain names.—Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 3 Sep. 2025 This would point any nefarious civilization in the direction of the aforementioned Dyson spheres, probably.—Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 2 Sep. 2025 Their investigation leads them to Dayal (Soubin Shahir) and Simon (Nagarjuna), members of a crime syndicate using one of Rajasekar's inventions — a chair-like contraption with the ability to cremate bodies — for their own nefarious purposes.—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 1 Sep. 2025 Some conspiracy theorists have suggested Epstein’s death was nefarious and meant to hide something.—Alex Gangitano, The Hill, 22 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for nefarious
Word History
Etymology
Latin nefarius, from nefas crime, from ne- not + fas right, divine law; perhaps akin to Greek themis law, tithenai to place — more at do
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