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villainy

[vil-uh-nee] / ˈvɪl ə ni /


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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"Hathaway is a model of steely self-possession masking vulnerability; Pattinson bites into his character's villainy with gusto."

From BBC Jul. 15, 2026

His Othello is hounded into a betrayal of his probity and hard-earned honor not just by the villainy of Iago but by the demons of his past.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 9, 2026

Red herrings pop up and disappear, a climactic series of revelations indicates hidden villainy, and every detail feels ho-hum.

From The Wall Street Journal Jan. 22, 2026

It’s unusual to consider an awkward, suburban dad and company stalwart being an acting stretch, but Lee is known for his dramatic intensity, action-movie heroism, even villainy.

From Los Angeles Times Nov. 18, 2025

These men have been caught halfway through their transformation: ordinary bodies but with powerful, supernatural heads, deformed in the direction of heroism, or villainy.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

History is all intrigues and executions, beautiful ineffectual ladies and poisoning queens, love-stories and villainies, steeped in Dickensian melodrama and embroidered with the theatrical effects of a Bleak House or an Oliver Twist.

From The New Yorker Feb. 25, 2015

In Mr Merriman’s retelling, the Paris Commune is a reminder that the worst villainies are possible once you have dehumanised your opponent.

From Economist Nov. 27, 2014

“There has been a transference of villainies from the principals to the agents.”

From Salon Dec. 22, 2013

Warner Bros., with no grudge at all against lawyers, are constrained to angle the picture's villainies some other way.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Indolence and inability have too large a share in your composition ever to suffer you to be any thing more than the hero of little villainies and unfinished adventures."

From Junius Unmasked or, Thomas Paine the author of the Letters of Junius and the Declaration of Independence by Joel Moody




Vocabulary lists containing villainy


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