as in brute
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
only a heartless villain would kidnap a baby for ransom
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of villain
Regardless, our villains must become the embodiment of the problem.
—
Patrick Riccards, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
Also new to the series is Rosamund Pike, who appears to be the villain of the piece.
—Tom Rogers, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Apr. 2025
Children meet superheroes and villains, engage with games and movies, and are greeted by staff in costume.
—Chris Gallagher, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2025
The soul patch, villain, and walrus facial hair all work with masks while mutton chops and chin curtain don’t.
—Lisa Wood Shapiro, Wired News, 18 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for villain
Patrick Riccards, Forbes.com, 29 Apr. 2025
Also new to the series is Rosamund Pike, who appears to be the villain of the piece.
—Tom Rogers, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Apr. 2025
Children meet superheroes and villains, engage with games and movies, and are greeted by staff in costume.
—Chris Gallagher, USA Today, 19 Apr. 2025
The soul patch, villain, and walrus facial hair all work with masks while mutton chops and chin curtain don’t.
—Lisa Wood Shapiro, Wired News, 18 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for villain
Recent Examples of Synonyms for villain
Noun
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Then comes the arrival of General Zod and his two primary compatriots – a warrior woman and a silent hulking brute – who do battle with Superman around the city, causing much destruction and threatening the life of Lois Lane and her Daily Planet coworkers.—
Mark Hughes,
Forbes.com,
26 Apr. 2025
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By the end of the episode, the audience is eager to meet the antihero, the brute, that everyone is talking about.—
Maelle Beauget-Uhl,
Forbes,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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The Switch was a monster, so the assumption is that sure, players will pay a full 50% more for a new one, if not more.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
24 Apr. 2025
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The trailer depicts sequences involving multiple predators fighting or threatening one another, Elle Fanning looking very strange and cool as an android, and glimpses of new monsters and the alien world the movie focuses on.—
John Timmer,
ArsTechnica,
23 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Precious few bands can fill a stadium 52 years into their career — let alone play to an audience heavily populated by parents and their children, both generations sporting red devil horn headbands and cheering for 77-year-old singer Brian Johnson and white-haired guitar icon Angus Young, 70.—
Katherine Turman,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2025
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Fire crackling in Burt’s (Christopher Walken) dining room, framing his face like a devil.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Reckless sanctuary city policies create a sanctuary for one class — criminals.—
Louis Casiano,
FOXNews.com,
26 Apr. 2025
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Trump has expressed support for Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's maximum security prison, calling it an effective solution for U.S. criminals.—
Amanda Castro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Often regarded by historians as a collection of savage tribes, the Scythians emerge as a pivotal force of the ancient world in this monumental history.—
The New Yorker,
The New Yorker,
30 Jan. 2023
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Nearly 32 years ago, Rodney King’s savage beating by police in Los Angeles prompted heartfelt calls for change.—
Aaron Morrison, Claudia Lauer and Adrian Sainz,
Anchorage Daily News,
29 Jan. 2023
Noun
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Some of the beasts may have developed frightening mutations.—
Jack Smart,
People.com,
19 Apr. 2025
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But the palazzo's aesthetic centerpiece is Bar della Musa, which is lined with polished silver tiles that shimmer like the scales of a mythic beast.—
Travel + Leisure Editors,
Travel + Leisure,
16 Apr. 2025
Noun
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In the first, Trump treated a moral hero as an ungrateful scoundrel.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
27 Apr. 2025
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That edge is somewhat novel in Star Wars’s universe of smugglers, which typically feels bifurcated between scoundrels with a heart of gold and petty criminals who are rarely more than their base nature.—
Nicholas Quah,
Vulture,
22 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Castillo, a Peruvian national, and his accomplices were considered international bandits and wanted on several continents, according to the Los Angeles Times coverage of their trial, which lasted more than five months.—
Taryn Luna,
Los Angeles Times,
19 Apr. 2025
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The caps proved popular with dockworkers, shipwrights and bandits, and, over time, the baker boy hat became synonymous with the newsboy cap (which was actually worn by boys working at newsstands).—
Rosa Rahimi,
CNN Money,
18 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Villain.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/villain. Accessed 7 May. 2025.
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