villain

UK: /ˈvɪlən/ US: /ˈvɪlən/ ,(vil′ən)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

vil•lain /ˈvɪlən/   n. [countable]

1. a cruel or evil person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime;
   a scoundrel.
2. Literature a character in a play, novel, or the like who commits cruel and evil deeds.
3. Literature a person, condition, etc., regarded as the source of a problem or evil:
   Unemployment is a constant villain.

vil•lain•ous, adj. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

vil•lain  (vil′ən), n. 

1. a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime;
   scoundrel.
2. Literature a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
3. Law, World History villein.

• Late Latin villānus a farm servant. See villa, -an
• Middle French
• Middle English vilein, vilain 1275–1325

Synonyms

• 1. knave, rascal, rapscallion, rogue, scamp.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

villain / ˈvɪlən/ noun

1. a wicked or malevolent person
2. (in a novel, play, film, etc) the main evil character and antagonist to the hero
3. a variant spelling of villein
4. an uncouth person; boor

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French vilein serf, from Late Latin vīllānus worker on a country estate, from Latin: villa

ˈvillainess noun:feminine

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

vil•lein  (vil′ən, -ān, vi lān′), n. 

1. Law, World History a member of a class of partially free persons under the feudal system, who were serfs with respect to their lord but had the rights and privileges of freemen with respect to others.

Also, villain. 

• 1275–1325; Middle English; see villain

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

villein, villain / ˈvɪlən/ noun

1. (in medieval Europe) a peasant personally bound to his lord, to whom he paid dues and services, sometimes commuted to rents, in return for his land

Etymology: 14th Century: from Old French vilein serf; see villain