Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Evil?

\E*vil\a. [OE. evel, evil, ifel, uvel, AS. yfel; akin to OFries, evel, D. euvel, OS. & OHG. ubil, G. ["u]bel, Goth. ubils, and perh. to E. over.] 1. Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil beast; and evil plant; an evil crop. A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit. --Matt. vii. 18. 2. Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like. Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, When death's approach is seen so terrible. --Shak. 3. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days. Because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. --Deut. xxii. 19. The owl shrieked at thy birth -- an evil sign. --Shak. Evil news rides post, while good news baits. --Milton. {Evil eye}, an eye which inflicts injury by some magical or fascinating influence. It is still believed by the ignorant and superstitious that some persons have the supernatural power of injuring by a look. It almost led him to believe in the evil eye. --J. H. Newman. {Evil speaking}, speaking ill of others; calumny; censoriousness. {The evil one}, the Devil; Satan. Note: Evil is sometimes written as the first part of a compound (with or without a hyphen). In many cases the compounding need not be insisted on. Examples: Evil doer or evildoer, evil speaking or evil-speaking, evil worker, evil wishing, evil-hearted, evil-minded. Syn: Mischieveous; pernicious; injurious; hurtful; destructive; wicked; sinful; bad; corrupt; perverse; wrong; vicious; calamitous.
\E"vil\ ([=e]"v'l) n. 1. Anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm; -- opposed to {good}. Evils which our own misdeeds have wrought. --Milton. The evil that men do lives after them. --Shak. 2. Moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the principles of virtue imposed by conscience, or by the will of the Supreme Being, or by the principles of a lawful human authority; disposition to do wrong; moral offence; wickedness; depravity. The heart of the sons of men is full of evil. --Eccl. ix. 3. 3. malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula. [R.] --Shak. He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil. --Addison.
\E"vil\, adv. In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly. --Shak. It went evil with his house. --1 Chron. vii. 23. The Egyptians evil entreated us, and affected us. --Deut. xxvi. 6.