as in evil
that which is morally unacceptable
psychologists and sociologists have tried to discover the roots of such unspeakable villainy
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Recent Examples of villainy
The moment would have been a powerful display of villainy from the newly-heel Cena.
—
Andrew Ravens, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Aug. 2025
Matriarch Poser, who has a Colleen Dewhurst-like gravity of presence, brings nary a hint of camp or stock bwa-ha-ha villainy to her striking characterization.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 31 July 2025
Lex is a tech billionaire very much in the Musk/Zuckerberg mode, but Hoult gives him sufficient ambiguity to blur the lines of his villainy between someone genuinely concerned about humankind in thrall to an alien and someone who just wants absolute power at any price.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 July 2025
But that’s not all… Reality Distortion According to Vasko, cyber criminals behind this type of villainy may be thought of as AI buccaneers—digital pirates often paid to instigate corporate espionage and theft.
—Michael Ashley, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for villainy
Andrew Ravens, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Aug. 2025
Matriarch Poser, who has a Colleen Dewhurst-like gravity of presence, brings nary a hint of camp or stock bwa-ha-ha villainy to her striking characterization.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 31 July 2025
Lex is a tech billionaire very much in the Musk/Zuckerberg mode, but Hoult gives him sufficient ambiguity to blur the lines of his villainy between someone genuinely concerned about humankind in thrall to an alien and someone who just wants absolute power at any price.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 July 2025
But that’s not all… Reality Distortion According to Vasko, cyber criminals behind this type of villainy may be thought of as AI buccaneers—digital pirates often paid to instigate corporate espionage and theft.
—Michael Ashley, Forbes.com, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for villainy
Recent Examples of Synonyms for villainy
Noun
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Our empathy keeps getting used to excuse evil.—
Brendan Cole,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
-
The courtroom thriller dramatizes the first international tribunal against surviving Nazi leaders, probing not only their crimes but also the nature of evil itself.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
7 Sep. 2025
Noun
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While working together on The Unit, David Mamet once told you that good drama isn’t a choice between good and bad; good drama is the choice between two bads.—
Max Gao,
The Hollywood Reporter,
24 Jan. 2025
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Reports out of fall camp haven’t been super favorable to their offense, and while the defense will, again, be top-notch, a team with this bad of an offense cannot be trusted.—
Austin Mock,
The Athletic,
19 Aug. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Villainy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/villainy. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
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