evilness

English

Etymology

From Middle English yvelnesse, from Old English yfelnyss; equivalent to evil +‎ -ness.

Noun

evilness (countable and uncountable, plural evilnesses)

1. The quality or state of being evil.
   • 1808, Legh Richmond, The Fathers of the English Church:

     […] they lament the evilness and malice of evil men, and pray God for the evil, that he will convert them from their evilness and malice, and so make them good of evil men.

Synonyms

• badness
• viciousness
• malignity
• vileness

Translations

of or relating to evil

• Catalan: maldat (ca) f
• Dutch: slechtheid (nl) f, kwaadaardigheid (nl) f
• Finnish: pahuus (fi)
• German: Boshaftigkeit f

• Middle English: yvelnesse
• Romanian: răutate (ro) f, maliție (ro) f, malițiozitate (ro) f
• Spanish: maldad (es)
• Turkish: kötülük (tr)

Further reading

• evilness in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• evilness in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

Anagrams

• Nevilses, liveness, veinless, vileness, vineless