villain
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- //ˈvɪl.ən//
- //ˈvɪl.jən//
A vile, wicked person.
noun
- 1
A vile, wicked person.
Oh moſt pernicious woman! / Oh Villaine, Villaine, ſmiling damned Villaine!
Thou ly’ſt thou ſhagge-ear’d Villaine.
- 2
A vile, wicked person. An extremely depraved person, or one capable or guilty of great crimes.
- 3
A vile, wicked person. A deliberate scoundrel.
- 4
archaicA low-born, abject person.
Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue: I tel thee villaine, thoſe that lead my horſe Haue to their names tytles of dignitie, And dar’ſt thou bluntly cal me Baiazeth?
- 5
A character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero; an antagonist who is also evil or malevolent.
Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.
In some ways, it’s a relief to see tech bros, especially AI entrepreneurs, reach full, unambiguous movie-villain status.
- 6
Any opponent player, especially a hypothetical player for example and didactic purposes. Compare: hero (“the current player”).
Let's discuss how to play if you are the chip leader (that is, if you have more chips than all the villains).
- 7
Variant of villeinarchaicArchaic form of villein (“feudal tenant, peasant, serf”).
Etymology
Probably from Middle English vilein, from Old French vilein (modern French vilain), in turn from Late Latin vīllānus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a Latin vīlla, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul. Doublet of villein. Compare typologically pagan (see more).
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo debase; to degrade .
Forms
- plural
- villains
- past tense
- villained
- past participle
- villained
- present participle
- villaining
- third person singular
- villains