1
as in demonic
of, relating to, or worthy of an evil spirit
a fiendish delight in playing cruel tricks
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2
as in brutal
having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others
shook with fiendish laughter as he watched his victims writhe in agony
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of fiendish
Next up is Pagli, a madwoman with a thin, charred body, fiendish laugh, and ghoulish shrieks.
—
JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugue is a fiendish work of near-mythical status.
—Genevieve Marks, Air Mail, 25 Oct. 2025
But a new shingle (and URL) outside the Pentagon does not solve the fiendish challenges of running the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and Space Force.
—Andreas Kluth, Twin Cities, 11 Sep. 2025
So as access to this technique expands, no flaw, failure, or fiendish trick will be able to hide.
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2022
See All Example Sentences for fiendish
JSTOR Daily, 30 Oct. 2025
Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugue is a fiendish work of near-mythical status.
—Genevieve Marks, Air Mail, 25 Oct. 2025
But a new shingle (and URL) outside the Pentagon does not solve the fiendish challenges of running the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard and Space Force.
—Andreas Kluth, Twin Cities, 11 Sep. 2025
So as access to this technique expands, no flaw, failure, or fiendish trick will be able to hide.
—IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2022
See All Example Sentences for fiendish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fiendish
Adjective
-
Supposedly the poem was inspired by a peyote-vision where the edifice of San Francisco’s Sir Francis Drake Hotel was transformed into a hideous, twisted, demonic visage, which inspired the beating heart of Howl’s second section.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 June 2026
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What follows is a series of unexpected events that may or may not be connected, including secret government programs, a demonic cult, scandalous affairs, and an alien abduction.—
Keith Langston,
Space.com,
31 May 2026
Adjective
-
Bichette is off to a brutal start, Francisco Lindor’s spring hamate injury may have affected his power even before his calf strain knocked him out for the last month, and Jorge Polanco has barely been on the field.—
Tim Britton,
New York Times,
29 May 2026
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Hounded by a loud, impatient Eisenhower and faced with the very real evidence that a brutal trio of storms will make an early June invasion impossible, Stagg is torn between doing his duty and, well, doing his duty.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
In the film, actress Midori Francis plays Hana, a medical student who becomes terrorized by a sinister force after partaking in the latest dieting fad — eating human ashes.—
Nicole Fell,
HollywoodReporter,
3 June 2026
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Yet a sinister rage brews within the former chef, flickering alive with the smallest spark.—
Aramide Tinubu,
Variety,
3 June 2026
Adjective
-
Electronic bugs are installed, secretaries listen in on every phone call and conversation, and rock 'n roll is banned in this cruel culture of absolute secrecy.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
29 May 2026
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The slaughter of Australian infantry at the hands of Turkish guns on the coastal region of Gallipoli has become emblematic of the pointless loss of life during this cruel conflict.—
Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
Both courses had diabolical pin placements that turned into absolute nightmares.—
Joe Kinsey OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
26 May 2026
-
As a result, even with better production wrinkles, some exciting challenge tweaks, and some brilliantly diabolical moves by Jesse, the season itself felt a bit snoozy and lacking in huge, iconic moments (outside of the Cody blindside, of course).—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
22 May 2026
Adjective
-
Her vicious block on Clark with seven minutes left nearly lifted the roof off the place.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
Mercury News,
29 May 2026
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Other cast members spoke on rising to new challenges in Season 2, including Paulina Chavez, whose character Ariana Medina survived a vicious assault in the penultimate episode.—
Kai Naima Williams,
Variety,
27 May 2026
Adjective
-
The core challenge of adapting systems of trust to the agentic economy is distinguishing legitimate from malicious automation without harming the user experience.—
Andrew Sever,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
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The addition was a prompt injection, a form of AI attack that exploits an LLM’s inability to distinguish between legitimate user prompts and those from unauthorized, potentially malicious third parties.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
28 May 2026
Adjective
-
Their twiggy legs and bony frames exposed in bathing suits, the kids do indeed look extra vulnerable within the film’s savage landscape.—
Beatrice Loayza,
Variety,
25 May 2026
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Sure, sci-fi can be bleak — there's no end to the cosmic horrors and savage alien races that game developers can conjure up — but that almost always comes as a result of humanity's success in space.—
Ian Stokes,
Space.com,
24 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Fiendish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fiendish. Accessed 4 Jun. 2026.
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