villainess
2
7.1
- noun
- /ˈvɪləˌnɛs/
:
villana
- Played here by Barbara Frittoli (in an astonishing, wide-hipped black gown and corset), this was an impressive villainess who quickly morphs into the opera's heroine.
- plays the villainess
Examples
-
Since my husband's death, I have become a perfect villainess, or I will once these poems are made public.
Fiction book (1996) -
It is I, Poppy Prescott, villainess.
-
Oftentimes, a character's proclivity for romance rather than pure sex is what separates her from the villainess.
Blog text (17) -
But what it lacks, it makes up for with a genuinely twisted premise (thanks, Stephen King!) and a terrific performance from resident villainess Alice Krige.
Blog text (19) -
In the movie, the cunning villainess plotted to take over the kingdom.
-
The audience cheered as the villainess made her dramatic entrance into the scene.
-
As the main antagonist, the villainess captivated viewers with her complex motives.
Synonyms
272
3.3
A person who does very bad things, often the main bad character in a story
8
3.8
A bad character in a story who causes trouble for the hero, often in children's stories
4
8.8
A cruel woman who treats people very badly
2
7.0
A person who is the main bad character in a story or film, often in children's stories
1
8.0
The main enemy in a story who is very powerful and evil
1
8.6
A woman who is very cruel to other people
A clearly exaggerated evil character in a play who makes the audience boo
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Villainess comes from villain, which originally came from villa, a word for a 'country house' or 'farm', so it first meant someone from the countryside like a 'villager'. Over time villain changed to mean a bad or cruel person, and the ending -ess marks a woman, so a villainess is a woman who plays the story's bad character.