as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
he plays the role of the duplicitous knave who tries to foil the play's hero
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of knave
How does history distinguish knaves from legendary figures?
—
W.e. Gutman, Sun Sentinel, 8 July 2025
Human beings are motivated by virtue (knights) or rigid self-interest (knaves), or are passive victims of their circumstances (pawns).
—Sachin H. Jain, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
W.e. Gutman, Sun Sentinel, 8 July 2025
Human beings are motivated by virtue (knights) or rigid self-interest (knaves), or are passive victims of their circumstances (pawns).
—Sachin H. Jain, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knave
Noun
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Because the traits that make someone a hero in a story can easily lend themselves to being painted as a villain, too.—
Harmeet Kaur,
CNN Money,
13 Sep. 2025
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Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin play estranged old friends who reconnect at the funeral of a mutual friend, only to realize that their friend's dead husband was really the villain in all their lives.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
12 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Each fits into typical RPG classes — with Armon being the close combat brute, Harlow the magical crowd control specialist, Rafa the agile rogue, and Vex serving as a summoner who calls on minions to do the dirty work.—
George Yang,
Rolling Stone,
11 Sep. 2025
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Mihály is a brute who mistreats his mother.—
Adam Solomons,
IndieWire,
28 Aug. 2025
Noun
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If his dad is his guardian angel, looks like Dexter now has a devil on his shoulder, too.—
Nick Caruso,
TVLine,
5 Sep. 2025
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The term Jab Jab itself comes from the French term for devil.—
Mankaprr Conteh,
Rolling Stone,
23 Aug. 2025
Noun
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This quiz invites you to explore the darker corners of sci-fi literature, where monsters lurk not just in shadows, but in laboratories, alien worlds and post-apocalyptic wastelands.—
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry,
Space.com,
16 Sep. 2025
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As a smooth fixer for a tertiary monster who has maybe three lines, Morgan Spector is both chilling and thoroughly pointless.—
Daniel Fienberg,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The 'Kill Tony' host, Hinchcliffe, famously appeared at last year's massive Netflix roast for Tom Brady and generated buzz for his savage lines aimed at the NFL legend.—
Matthew Couden,
MSNBC Newsweek,
15 Sep. 2025
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Texas is gearing up for war as a savage, flesh-eating fly appears poised for a US invasion and is expanding its range of victims.—
Beth Mole,
ArsTechnica,
8 Aug. 2025
Noun
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Yet, bizarrely, the TV show undercuts this angle by inventing a serial killer nurse from whole cloth, a move that shifts the blame away from systemic forces and toward a motiveless scoundrel.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
5 Sep. 2025
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The movie, with Baranov as its scoundrel tour guide, works its way through some of 21st century Russia’s greatest hits of deception.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
31 Aug. 2025
Noun
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This mid-movie handoff dilutes the shock of how articulate the wretch proves in del Toro’s telling (the creature could barely speak in James Whale’s original Universal monster movie).—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
30 Aug. 2025
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Since then, he’s been a haunted wretch of a character: stoned, sullen, stuck with recurring visions of shooting his wife and himself.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
8 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Knave.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knave. Accessed 20 Sep. 2025.
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