villainy

noun vil·lainy \ ˈvi-lə-nē \

Updated on: 22 Apr 2018

Definition of villainy

plural villainies

1 : villainous conduct; also : a villainous act

2 : the quality or state of being villainous : depravity

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Examples of villainy in a Sentence

a story of villainy and betrayal
the gruesome villainies of war

Recent Examples of villainy from the Web

In the film, Mr. Forman drew remarkable performances from the two central characters, played by two relatively unknown actors, Tom Hulce as Mozart and F. Murray Abraham as Salieri, whose villainy grows more tortured and complex throughout.

— matt schudel, Washington Post, "Milos Forman, Oscar-winning director of ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘Amadeus’ dies at 86," 14 Apr. 2018
Hutt gangsters, bounty hunters, wretched hives of scum and/or villainy, and so on.

— adam rogers, WIRED, "Worried About a Star Wars Live-Action TV Show? You Shouldn't Be," 8 Mar. 2018
While it's not celebrated as much as some other animated Disney films, Wreck-It Ralph is a classic—a comedy that wrings empathy and humor out of both video games and villainy, moving and funny and not nearly as problematic as Zootopia.

— joshua rivera, GQ, "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2," 28 Feb. 2018
Digital villainy can be launched from faraway states, or countries, eliminating physical threats the police traditionally confront.

— al baker, New York Times, "An ‘Iceberg’ of Unseen Crimes: Many Cyber Offenses Go Unreported," 5 Feb. 2018
Drama became melodrama as the winds blared out villainy and the puppets fought.

— mark swed, latimes.com, "With Charles Dutoit out, London's Royal Philharmonic tries a Swiss conductor — and has a blast," 26 Jan. 2018
Said program has never been re-aired or officially released in any home video format, though it has been known to pop up in certain wretched hives of scum and villainy online.

— OregonLive.com, "Movie picks: 'The Shape of Water,' 'Darkest Hour' and more," 13 Dec. 2017
Shaw's depiction of the mysterious Man in the Yellow Suit is played with a fitting degree of scenery-chewing villainy, while remaining comically appealing.

— theodore p. mahne, NOLA.com, "JPAS' 'Tuck Everlasting' a charming story just right for holidays," 12 Dec. 2017
Damon spends the movie looking appropriately flummoxed as his ruinous plans go awry; little Jupe is convincingly precocious; Moore, with her alabaster skin and lacquered ’50s do, seems shellacked by villainy.

— peter rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, "'Suburbicon' is an uneasy mixture of noir and socially conscious film," 28 Oct. 2017

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