evil spirit
41
6.8
- noun
- /ˈiːvəl ˈspɪrɪt/
- Literature
:
espíritu maligno
- The old house was rumored to be haunted by an evil spirit that caused misfortune.
- ward off evil spirits
- drive away evil spirits
- caused by evil spirits
Go through the whole house and then to cleanse it of the evil spirits.
- Go through the whole house and then to cleanse it of the evil spirits.
- But you start condemning the demon, condemning the evil spirit, and all of a sudden she, the child, is reacting to that.
Examples
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Long ago they were used to drive away evil spirits.
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Its function, like that of the canoe effigy, is to keep evil spirits away.
Academic text (2003) -
We will find this evil spirit tonight!
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Some kind of evil spirit, or energy.
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There is no evil spirit here.
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The evil spirit could be anyone around you.
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Maybe I was possessed by an evil spirit.
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The few who escaped into the wilderness thought they had run from an evil spirit.
Fiction book (2000) -
I think we're dealing with an evil spirit, a demonic presence, or Death itself.
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Shamans healed illnesses but also warded off evil spirits by using medicine, magic, ceremonies, and prayers.
Academic text (2001)
Synonyms
509
5.3
A harmful spirit that people believe can enter and hurt someone
318
5.3
A powerful spirit that represents evil and tempts people
56
8.6
A ghost that people say appears and frightens them at night
31
9.3
An evil spirit that haunts graveyards and eats dead bodies
Antonyms
How Harmful
- Offensive
106
5.1
- Literature
41
6.8
- Literature
18
9.7
929
3.0
527
7.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a harmful supernatural being' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'evil' (morally wrong/harmful) with 'spirit' (an incorporeal being). This simple adjective + noun composition is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Evil spirit may come from old beliefs about unseen, harmful beings. People imagined a dark, invisible creature that could enter a person or a house and make them sick or unlucky, so the words evil and spirit came to mean 'a supernatural being that causes harm'.