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
Without revealing too much, Stieve suggested the sequel would focus less on rewriting the cat-and-mouse playbook and more on how their villain has adapted to it over the years.
—
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 10 Apr. 2026
And the Grate One in Lu Dort, the willing villain in this budding rivalry.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 10 Apr. 2026
His ties to Epstein undercut his reputation (with his fans) as a chill truth teller or (with his detractors) as a villain with an uncanny ability to demean his enemies.
—Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2026
That’s because Steps centers on Cinderella’s stepsisters, Lilith and Margot, reimagining them as far more than one-dimensional villains.
—Ryan Brennan
april 9, Sacbee.com, 9 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for villain
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 10 Apr. 2026
And the Grate One in Lu Dort, the willing villain in this budding rivalry.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 10 Apr. 2026
His ties to Epstein undercut his reputation (with his fans) as a chill truth teller or (with his detractors) as a villain with an uncanny ability to demean his enemies.
—Ali Breland, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2026
That’s because Steps centers on Cinderella’s stepsisters, Lilith and Margot, reimagining them as far more than one-dimensional villains.
—Ryan Brennan
april 9, Sacbee.com, 9 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for villain
Recent Examples of Synonyms for villain
Noun
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That’s happened in several Mid Atlantic rivers, but in the absence of larger brutes like blues and flathead, channels will thrive and can break the 15-pound mark.—
Joe Cermele,
Outdoor Life,
9 Apr. 2026
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In Raspail’s tale, hordes of impoverished and dark-skinned brutes from India descend onto French shores by way of rafts, the first wave of an invasion of the civilized West by the brown-skinned developing world.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The wereboar growled next to Black Pudding, a hulking vicious monster, both focused on ripping Puck and Cordelia to shreds.—
Jaclyn Cosgrove,
Los Angeles Times,
10 Apr. 2026
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Daniel Bernhardt is Deathstalker, a legendary swordsman stuck with a cursed amulet who befriends swamp monsters and teams with a mini wizard (voiced by Patton Oswalt) to stop a dark magic from ruling the land.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The scheme is designed to identify suspected criminals, combat identity fraud, and to police the EU's limit on 90-day stays within a 180-day period, according to the European Commission.—
Emma Clarke,
Condé Nast Traveler,
10 Apr. 2026
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Rex Heuermann, the man known as the Gilgo Beach killer, admitted to killing eight women over a span of decades, and the FBI is now looking into what motivated the 62-year-old to carry out his crimes to help capture other criminals in the future.—
Matt Lavietes,
NBC news,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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While the movie has some fun asking whether people actually want to know everything about their partners (a devil’s bargain since time immemorial), its real interest lies in how that knowledge is colored by who shares it.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
31 Mar. 2026
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Its theme — that the rich are different, and in not-good ways — meant she’d be forced into a ritualistic game of hide-and-seek, running for her life from her devil-worshipping, masters-of-the-world in-laws.—
Michael Ordoña,
Houston Chronicle,
19 Mar. 2026
Noun
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One answer would be that the more savage the storm, the more urgent the need for safe havens.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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This notion was based on outdated presumptions of hillforts as being occupied by violent, prehistoric savages.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Preliminary investigation indicated that an unknown offender pulled out a gun and shot into a crowd of people who were standing outside, hitting three of them.—
Jeramie Bizzle,
CBS News,
11 Apr. 2026
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Surprisingly, the worst offenders are often the most traveled.—
Katie Jackson,
Travel + Leisure,
11 Apr. 2026
Noun
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New Orleans has long been notorious for embracing such scoundrels, a reputation that isn’t exactly helped by the fact that, for many years, disgraced attorneys who lost their licenses in Louisiana and applied for readmission to the bar often got it.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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Sure, the Oscar-winning makeup helps transform the actor into Cheney, but the voice and petulance are all Bale, whose conjuring of this scoundrel ought to trigger PTSD for anyone who survived the Dubya years.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2026
Noun
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While the movie is quintessential Disney, with jaw-dropping animation coupled with the fantastic score of composers and husband-wife team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, translating that to a stage is another beast altogether.—
David John Chávez,
Mercury News,
12 Apr. 2026
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Its language is a beast to learn.—
Isaac Stanley-Becker,
The Atlantic,
10 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Villain.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/villain. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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