villainy

English

Alternative forms

• vilanie, vilany (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English vileinie, vileynye, from Anglo-Norman vilenie, from Old French vilanie.

Noun

villainy (countable and uncountable, plural villainies)

1. (uncountable) Evil or wicked character or behaviour.
   • 1977, Star Wars, spoken by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness):

     You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

2. (countable) A wicked or treacherous act.
3. (uncountable, obsolete) Ill-treatment, indignity, degrading or shameful treatment of someone.
4. (uncountable, obsolete) Disgrace, ignominy.
5. (uncountable, obsolete) The state of being a villein or serf, and by extension servitude or low estate in life.
6. (uncountable, obsolete) Boorishness, rudeness, bad cultivation or manners.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:villainy

Etymology 2

From villain +‎ -y.

Adjective

villainy (comparative more villainy, superlative most villainy)

1. Characteristic of a villain.
   • 1839, Robert Folkestone Williams, The Youth of Shakspeare:

     We are all villainy— very villainy, as I am a Christian man.

   • 1993, William Froug, Screenwriting Tricks of the Trade, page 51:

     Apparently, in both domestic and foreign movies, you can't get too villainy to displease an audience.

   • 2019, Greg Gutfeld, The Gutfeld Monologues, page 166:

     Yet here, actual reality offers you the worst villain ever and you say, sorry, he is too villainy.

Synonyms

• villainly
• villainous