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Entry 7 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Evil

/(ē"v'l)/ · E·vil · IPA /ˈi.vəl/
01 a. Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or d…
  1. 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. 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. 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.
    “It almost led him to believe in the evil eye.” — J. H. Newman.
Syn. Mischieveous; pernicious; injurious; hurtful; destructive; wicked; sinful; bad; corrupt; perverse; wrong; vicious; calamitous.
02 n. Anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient be…
  1. 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. 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. 3.
    malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil, the scrofula.[R.]
    “He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil.” — Addison.
03 adv. In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly.
  1. 1.
    In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily; injuriously; unkindly.
    “It went evil with his house.” — 1 Chron. vii. 23.
    “The Egyptians evil entreated us, and affected us.” — Deut. xxvi. 6.