villain

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: vil=lain

CIDE DICTIONARY

villain, n. [OE. vilein, F. vilain, LL. villanus, from villa a village, L. villa a farm. See Villa.].

•  One who holds lands by a base, or servile, tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest class, a bondman or servant.  [1913 Webster]

  " Villains were of two sorts; villains regardant, that is, annexed to the manor (LL. adscripti glebæ); and villains in gross, that is, annexed to the person of their lord, and transferable from one to another. Blackstone. "  Blackstone.  [1913 Webster]

  "If any of my ansectors was a tenant, and a servant, and held his lands as a villain to his lord, his posterity also must do so, though accidentally they become noble."  [1913 Webster]
•  A baseborn or clownish person; a boor.  [1913 Webster]

  "Pour the blood of the villain in one basin, and the blood of the gentleman in another, what difference shall there be proved?"  [1913 Webster]
•  A vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a scamp.  [1913 Webster]

  "Like a villain with a smiling cheek."  [1913 Webster]

  "Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix."  [1913 Webster]

villain, a. [F. vilain.].

 Villainous.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

villain, v. t. 

 To debase; to degrade.  Sir T. More.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

villain, n.
1 a person guilty or capable of great wickedness.
2 colloq. usu. joc. a rascal or rogue.
3 (also villain of the piece) (in a play etc.) a character whose evil actions or motives are important in the plot.
4 Brit. colloq. a professional criminal.
5 archaic a rustic; a boor.

Etymology

ME f. OF vilein, vilain ult. f. L villa: see VILLA

THESAURUS

villain

Roscius, SOB, actor, actress, antagonist, antihero, bad guy, bad person, barnstormer, bastard, bit, bit part, blackguard, blighter, bounder, cad, caitiff, cast, character, character actor, character man, character woman, child actor, criminal, crook, cue, cur, deceiver, delinquent, devil, diseur, diseuse, dog, dramatizer, evildoer, fat part, feeder, felon, foil, gangster, heavy, hero, heroine, histrio, histrion, ingenue, juvenile, knave, lawbreaker, lead, lead role, leading lady, leading man, leading woman, lines, malefactor, malevolent, malfeasant, malfeasor, matinee idol, mime, mimer, mimic, miscreant, misfeasor, mobster, monologist, mummer, outlaw, pantomime, pantomimist, part, person, personage, piece, playactor, player, precious rascal, protagonist, protean actor, public enemy, racketeer, rapscallion, rascal, rat, reciter, reptile, rogue, role, rotter, scalawag, scamp, scoundrel, shyster, side, sinner, sneak, soubrette, spalpeen, stage performer, stage player, stooge, straight man, straight part, stroller, strolling player, supporting character, supporting role, theatrical, thespian, thief, title role, transgressor, trouper, utility man, viper, walk-on, walking part, worker of ill, wretch, wrongdoer

ROGET THESAURUS

villain

Commonalty

N commonality, commonalty, democracy, obscurity, low condition, low life, low society, low company, bourgeoisie, mass of the people, mass of society, Brown Jones and Robinson, lower classes, humbler classes, humbler orders, vulgar herd, common herd, rank and file, hoc genus omne, the many, the general, the crowd, the people, the populace, the multitude, the million, the masses, the mobility, the peasantry, king Mob, proletariat, fruges consumere nati, demos, hoi polloi, great unwashed, man in the street, mob, rabble, rabble rout, chaff, rout, horde, canaille, scum of the people, residuum of the people, dregs of the people, dregs of society, swinish multitude, foex populi, trash, profanum vulgus, ignobile vulgus, vermin, riffraff, ragtag and bobtail, small fry, commoner, one of the people, democrat, plebeian, republican, proletary, proletaire, roturier, Mr, Snooks, bourgeois, epicier, Philistine, cockney, grisette, demimonde, peasant, countryman, boor, carle, churl, villain, villein, terrae filius, son of the land, serf, kern, tyke, tike, chuff, ryot, fellah, longshoreman, swain, clown, hind, clod, clodhopper, hobnail, yokel, bog-trotter, bumpkin, plowman, plowboy, rustic, hayseed, lunkhead, chaw-bacon, tiller of the soil, hewers of wood and drawers of water, groundling, gaffer, loon, put, cub, Tony Lumpkin, looby, rube, lout, underling, gamin, rough, pot- wallopper, slubberdegullion, vulgar fellow, low fellow, cad, curmudgeon, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, nobody, nobody one knows, hesterni quirites, pessoribus orti, bourgeois gentilhomme, novus homo, snob, gent, mushroom, no one knows who, adventurer, man of straw, beggar, gaberlunzie, muckworm, mudlark, sans culotte, raff, tatterdemalion, caitiff, ragamuffin, Pariah, outcast of society, tramp, vagabond, bezonian, panhandler, sundowner, chiffonnier, Cinderella, cinderwench, scrub, jade, gossoon, Goth, Vandal, Hottentot, Zulu, savage, barbarian, Yahoo, unlicked cub, rough diamond, barbarousness, barbarism, boeotia, ignoble, common, mean, low, base, vile, sorry, scrubby, beggarly, below par, no great shakes, homely, homespun, vulgar, low-minded, snobbish, plebeian, proletarian, of low parentage, of low origin, of low extraction, of mean parentage, of mean origin, of mean extraction, lowborn, baseborn, earthborn, mushroom, dunghill, risen from the ranks, unknown to fame, obscure, untitled, rustic, uncivilized, loutish, boorish, clownish, churlish, brutish, raffish, rude, unlicked, barbarous, barbarian, barbaric, barbaresque, cockney, born within sound of Bow bells, underling, menial, subaltern, below the salt, dummodo sit dives barbarus ipse placet.

Bad Man

N bad man, wrongdoer, worker of iniquity, evildoer, sinner, the wicked, bad example, villain, rascal, scoundrel, miscreant, budmash, caitiff, wretch, reptile, viper, serpent, cockatrice, basilisk, urchin, tiger, monster, devil, devil incarnate, demon in human shape, Nana Sahib, hellhound, hellcat, rakehell, bad woman, jade, Jezebel, scamp, scapegrace, rip, runagate, ne'er-do-well, reprobate, scalawag, scallawag, rou_e, rake, Sadist, skeesicks, skeezix, limb, one who has sold himself to the devil, fallen angel, ame damnee, vaurien, mauvais sujet, loose fish, sad dog, rounder, lost sheep, black sheep, castaway, recreant, defaulter, prodigal, rough, rowdy, hooligan, tough, ugly customer, mean mother, ruffian, bully, meanie, Jonathan Wild, hangman, incendiary, arsonist, fire bug, thief, murderer, terrorist, culprit, delinquent, crook, hoodlum, hood, criminal, thug, malefactor, offender, perpetrator, perp, disorderly person, misdemeanant, outlaw, scofflaw, vandal, felon, (convicted criminal), criminal, convict, prisoner, inmate, jail bird, ticket of leave man, multiple offender, blackguard, polisson, loafer, sneak, rapscallion, rascallion, cullion, mean wretch, varlet, kern, ame-de-boue, drole, cur, dog, hound, whelp, mongrel, lown, loon, runnion, outcast, vagabond, rogue, ronian, scum of the earth, riffraff, Arcades ambo, Int, sirrah!, Acherontis pabulum, gibier de potence.