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wicked

adjective

Simple meaning

Evil or mischievous by nature.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

wikuhd

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈwɪkəd

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. Evil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible.

  2. slang

    Excellent; awesome; masterful.

  3. Harsh; severe.

  4. Having a wick.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Evil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible.

Used this way, wicked is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Slightly negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Critical or judgemental
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use wicked

  • “That was a wicked guitar solo, bro!”adjective
  • “The moisture slowly wicked through the wood.”verb
  • “The band we went to see the other night was wicked loud!”adverb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

wicked worldwicked womanwicked witchwicked ways

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • wicknounBase word

    Any piece of cord that conveys liquid by capillary action.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • wickernounPerson or profession · specialist

    Slender flexible branches or twigs (especially of willow or some canes).

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: evil or mischievous by nature

iniquitousheinous

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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.