VocabauraVOCABAURA

evil

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Morally bad or wrong.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

eevuhl

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈivəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Morally bad or wrong

  2. Morally corrupt.

  3. Intending to harm; malevolent.

  4. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.

  5. Unpleasant, foul (of odor, taste, mood, weather, etc.).

noun

  1. Moral badness; wickedness; malevolence; the forces or behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good.

  2. Something which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; something which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; harm; injury; mischief.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Word Aura is being prepared for this meaning.

More ways to use evil

  • “The evil that men do lives after them.”noun
  • “Attempts to explain the origin of evil in the world.”noun

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “evil”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

evil spiritevil eyeevil effectsevil deeds

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • evil spiritnounCompound term

    A spirit tending to cause harm.

  • evil eyenounCompound term

    A look that is believed to have the power of inflicting harm.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: morally bad or wrong

sinistermalign

noun

Sense: moral badness

iniquity

Antonyms

Sense: moral badness

goodgoodness

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “evil” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.