Library / English Dictionary

VILLAINY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A criminal or vicious act

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("villainy" is a kind of...):

evildoing; transgression (the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quality of evil by virtue of villainous behavior

Synonyms:

villainousness; villainy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("villainy" is a kind of...):

evil; evilness (the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice)

Credits

 Context examples: 

It was a masterpiece of villainy, and he carried it out like a master.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Even the honest and brave pugilist was found to draw villainy round him, just as the pure and noble racehorse does.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such a marriage is binding.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I say again that, if the ring has fallen low, it is not in the main the fault of the men who have done the fighting, but it lies at the door of the vile crew of ring-side parasites and ruffians, who are as far below the honest pugilist as the welsher and the blackleg are below the noble racehorse which serves them as a pretext for their villainies.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)