a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel.
a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot.
a person or thing considered to be the cause of something bad: Fear is the villain that can sabotage our goals.
villein.
Origin of villain
First recorded in 1275–1325; from Middle English vilein, vilain “churlish rustic, serf,” from Middle French, from Vulgar Latin and Medieval Latin villānus “a farm servant, farmhand”; see origin at villa, -an
To begin with, there’s Ursula, a flamboyantly campy villain who lives to be over the top.
Toward a queer Disney canon|Emily VanDerWerff|September 4, 2020|Vox
He has avoided labeling any actual villains he would blame for San Diego’s problems.
Politics Report: Bry vs. Transit|Andrew Keatts and Scott Lewis|August 29, 2020|Voice of San Diego
Instead, Halliburton claims, health administrators treated him like a villain for calling.
Confirmed Nursing Home Complaints Plummet During Pandemic|Jared Whitlock|August 25, 2020|Voice of San Diego
For years, publishers have singled out the duopoly — Google and Facebook — as the industry’s mega villain characters, hoovering up the majority of the digital advertising pie and leaving behind just the crumbs for everyone else to play with.
Publishers could soon have more leverage to force Apple to relax its ‘my way or the highway’ approach|Lara O'Reilly|August 25, 2020|Digiday
China’s accelerating AI innovation deserves the world’s full attention, but it is unhelpful to reduce all the many developments into a simplistic narrative about China as a threat or a villain.
China and AI: What the World Can Learn and What It Should Be Wary of|Hessy Elliott|July 3, 2020|Singularity Hub
When I play a villain, I always try to make sure they believe what they are doing is right.
After The Fall: Introducing The Anti-Villain|Rich Goldstein|December 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I say a lot that in the story of racism in America nobody wants to be the villain.
The Unbearable Whiteness of Protesting|Rawiya Kameir, Judnick Mayard|December 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And if there was a villain on whom to pin this whole struggle—it would be our inner demons.
The Walking Dead’s Luke Skywalker: Rick Grimes Is the Perfect Modern-Day Mythical Hero|Regina Lizik|October 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
No matter what one thinks of him personally, though, clearly he is a victim here and not a villain.
New York & New Jersey’s Ebola Quarantines Are an Insane Overreaction|Kent Sepkowitz|October 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We had hoped that he would be compelling as a villain and he was very much, both the character and the actor.
The Leaner, Meaner Season 2 of ‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’|Jason Lynch|September 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Bring him away, Jug: yet the villain would not confess a word, till it was found about him.
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 12 (of 15)|Robert Dodsley
He was a strange little man, a nineteenth century villain in a sense.
My Strangest Case|Guy Boothby
But, even if she had never spoken to me on the subject, I could not fend myself to the cruel plots of that villain.
Willy Reilly|William Carleton
If she had not known he was a villain, she would have thought him very nice.
Joan of the Journal|Helen Diehl Olds
The villain had turned 216 pounds over on a set of springs which shiveringly reported the man-quake in their midst.
Cupid's Middleman|Edward B. Lent
British Dictionary definitions for villain
villain
/ (ˈvɪlən) /
noun
a wicked or malevolent person
(in a novel, play, film, etc) the main evil character and antagonist to the hero
oftenjoculara mischievous person; rogue
Britishpolice slanga criminal
history a variant spelling of villein
obsoletean uncouth person; boor
Derived forms of villain
villainess, fem n
Word Origin for villain
C14: from Old French vilein serf, from Late Latin vīllānus worker on a country estate, from Latin: villa