pantomime villain

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpæn.təˌmʌɪm ˈvɪl.jən/

Noun

pantomime villain (countable and uncountable, plural pantomime villains)

1. (British, figurative) A person who has become a designated villain, often seen as cartoonishly villainous; someone people "love to hate".
   • 9 November 2022, Sam Coates, “Gavin Williamson's departure is about more than just the messages”, in Sky News‎^[1]:

     The pantomime villain of British politics has exited stage right - leaving for a third and presumably final time, with the crowd booing. [...] From the moment of his appointment, Sir Gavin's third act in government irritated colleagues. After a divisive tenure as chief whip, difficult time as defence secretary and deeply troubled time as education secretary. Bluntly, he is unpopular.

   • 19 November 2022, Callum Walker, “Referee causes controversy in Wheelchair World Cup Final with bizarre actions as England defeat France”, in Rugby League World‎^[2]:

     The 'pantomime villain' he was labelled by the BBC commentary team, Abrial collected his medal [...] to a chorus of boos from those inside the Manchester Centre.

   • 5 January 2023, “Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz put 'in the fridge' for card-happy performances”, in OneFootball‎^[3]:

     The news will likely please many, as Mateu Lahoz has become something of a pantomime villain over the festive period. That is, until a controversial decision goes against their team with another official.

   • 2023 February 10, “Every home nations most hated player by rival fans in the Six Nations”, in RUCK‎^[4]:

     Pantomime villain [...] We all have those rugby players that just we dislike for whatever reason. It's hard to forget those specific moments in matches that had us raging. An injury to your star player? Moaning to the referee? World class rugby players don't take losing well, but some take it worse than others. But who are the players that rugby fans just love to hate, and why?

   • 2023 March 16, “Fans Rank Rugby's Top 5 Pantomime Villains”, in RUCK‎^[5]:

     With Owen Farrell returning to the England XV this weekend, who are rugby's greatest "pantomime villains" in world rugby. Though it's a relatively subjective term when applied to rugby players, in this context, we use it to identify big names who, despite their undoubted quality, have earned a reputation—rightly or wrongly—as something of a villain.

   • 30 March 2023, Joe Bray, “Rodri has become Man City's unlikely pantomime villain”, in Manchester Evening News‎^[6]:

     This week, though, away from City on international duty, Rodri has been firmly on the radar. He's riled two opposition fanbases, added a new dimension to the Premier League title race, and emerged as the Blues' unlikely pantomime villain going into the last two months of the campaign.

   • 2023 April 12, “Good and Bad PR: Pantomime villain Musk does good! Unilever, not so much...”, in PR Moment‎^[7]:

     Let's begin with the pantomime villain that everyone seemingly loves to hate, Elon Musk. Just a few weeks after he switched the [Twitter brand] logo away from the blue bird for shits'n'giggles he was actually demonstrating a smart comms move.

2. (British) A character archetype in pantomime entertainment.
   • 2020 February 3, “The Best of the Pantomime Villains”, in Blackpool Grand Theatre‎^[8]:

     In contrast, the best of the Pantomime villains are even entitled to misbehave, overact, and be disdainful of the audience.