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If you need a fancy word to describe someone who’s up to no good, nefarious has got you (and them) covered. It’s also handy for characterizing the “no good” such a dastardly devil gets up to, as in “a nefarious business/plot/deed.” Nefarious is most often used for someone or something that is flagrantly wicked or corrupt—it’s more applicable to the mustache-twirling supervillain than the morally gray antihero. In other words, there’s no question that a nefarious scheme, or schemer, is not right. Etymologically, this makes perfect sense: nefarious can be traced back to the Latin noun nefas, meaning “crime,” which in turn combines ne- (“not”) and fas, meaning “right” or “divine law.” It is one of very few English words with this root, accompanied only by the likes of nefariousness and the thoroughly obscure nefast (“wicked”).
Examples of nefarious in a Sentence
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. 1998
Three-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
Marina Watts, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Mar. 2026
Jacob Fatu also got his hand involved in the match as well, taking a chair away from McIntyre who was set to use it for nefarious purposes.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 7 Mar. 2026
Their investigation leads them back to Sherlock’s absentee father, Silas, who viewers learn midway through the season is a power-hungry, nefarious businessman looking to revolutionize the future of warfare with a deadly chemical agent.
—Max Gao, Variety, 5 Mar. 2026
In the finale, the method to her upper-echelon bootstrap-yanking is revealed to be procuring young women to fraternize (and more) with a rotating roster of nefarious dinner-party guests—oh, and seemingly also recording these illicit interactions.
—Megan McCluskey, Time, 2 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for nefarious
Cite this Entry
“Nefarious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nefarious. Accessed 14 Mar. 2026.
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nefarious
adjective
