nefarious

Word family

• nefariously
  adverbC2
• nefariousness
  nounC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Nefarious specifically describes actions, plans, or schemes carried out with a deliberate evil purpose — it is the most formal of these words and rarely applies to people directly. Wicked is the most everyday term, freely used for both people ('a wicked stepmother') and deeds. Evil carries the strongest moral weight and often implies a deep, almost inhuman corruption ('an evil dictator'). Heinous emphasises the shock and outrage a crime provokes ('a heinous attack on civilians'). Villainous has a slightly theatrical feel, conjuring the image of a storybook villain ('a villainous laugh'). You would describe a carefully plotted fraud as nefarious, a cruel remark as wicked, a genocide as evil, a brutal murder as heinous, and a cartoon antagonist as villainous.

Common collocations

Etymology

From Latin nefarius ('wicked, abominable'), derived from nefas ('crime, wrongdoing, something contrary to divine law'), which combines ne- ('not') with fas ('divine law, that which is right'). The word entered English in the late 1500s, carrying the literal sense of 'against what is sacred or lawful.'