as in brute
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person
only a heartless villain would kidnap a baby for ransom
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of villain
Black Noir probably deserved it if only because his revenge on The Deep – causing a massive oil pipeline spill in the ocean – is among the most egregious things any villain has done over the course of this show.
—
Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 19 May 2026
Fans wanted to come to the matches just to see the villains lose.
—Darius Rucker, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2026
Pratt’s campaign did not create the viral AI videos depicting him as a superhero taking on a cast of California Democratic villains.
—National Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2026
Refn won Best Director in his Cannes debut for his 2011 Ryan Gosling Hollywood heist movie Drive which starred Albert Brooks playing against type as a villain, Carey Mulligan and a fresh-face Oscar Isaac.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 18 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for villain
Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 19 May 2026
Fans wanted to come to the matches just to see the villains lose.
—Darius Rucker, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2026
Pratt’s campaign did not create the viral AI videos depicting him as a superhero taking on a cast of California Democratic villains.
—National Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2026
Refn won Best Director in his Cannes debut for his 2011 Ryan Gosling Hollywood heist movie Drive which starred Albert Brooks playing against type as a villain, Carey Mulligan and a fresh-face Oscar Isaac.
—Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 18 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for villain
Recent Examples of Synonyms for villain
Noun
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Oscillating between a bumbling brute and an ironic ignoramus, Marvel Studios sees the God of Thunder more like the God of Blunder, kicking out the knees of the steady 2011 film in favour of single-digit IQ humour.—
Sergio Pereira,
Space.com,
6 May 2026
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This time the closing hole was a brute, the toughest at Harbour Town on Sunday.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The minotaur was a monster, half man and half bull, that was imprisoned in a dark underground labyrinth.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
16 May 2026
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This little green creature then tries to help the Minions find more monsters to flesh out their film, a plan that unsurprisingly goes awry.—
Jami Ganz,
New York Daily News,
16 May 2026
Noun
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When unhoused people are treated as criminals, they are pushed into an identity of exclusion rather than belonging.—
Shianne LeClaire,
Hartford Courant,
17 May 2026
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Set in Gaza in 2007, and following the misadventures of a student (Nader Abd Alhay) and restaurant owner and petty criminal (Majd Eid), the picture premiered in Un Certain Regard last year and won the Best Director prize.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
16 May 2026
Noun
-
Angels and devils working together to stop Armageddon.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
15 May 2026
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This is the aforementioned devil’s chair.—
Jaclyn Cosgrove,
Los Angeles Times,
7 May 2026
Noun
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Smoothbrain libs and savages can KMA.—
Joe Kinsey OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
18 May 2026
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Yet the car was also a burden, with high monthly interest payments, which put savage masculinity at odds with paternal liability.—
Weike Wang,
New Yorker,
17 May 2026
Noun
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Locations are chosen based on impaired-driving crashes, and first-time DUI offenders face average fines and penalties of $13,500.—
Sacbee.com,
Sacbee.com,
15 May 2026
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The governor had publicly questioned whether Peters’ nine-year sentence was too hard for a first-time, nonviolent offender.—
Claire Carter,
The Washington Examiner,
15 May 2026
Noun
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New Orleans has long been notorious for embracing such scoundrels, a reputation that isn’t exactly helped by the fact that, for many years, disgraced attorneys who lost their licenses in Louisiana and applied for readmission to the bar often got it.—
Patrick Radden Keefe,
New Yorker,
13 Apr. 2026
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Sure, the Oscar-winning makeup helps transform the actor into Cheney, but the voice and petulance are all Bale, whose conjuring of this scoundrel ought to trigger PTSD for anyone who survived the Dubya years.—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2026
Noun
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The pair finished up with Colbert sending a congratulatory cake from the network – a multi-layered wedding-style beast – sailing downward.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
15 May 2026
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Everything about it elevates those themes of beauty and the beast within the city, within the culture, within what’s happening, and even within the heroes — that everyone is fighting this battle, even inside their own hearts at times.—
Mark Hughes,
Forbes.com,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Villain.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/villain. Accessed 23 May. 2026.
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