Adjacent Words

Diabolic definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DIABOLIC, DIABOLICAL, a. [L., the devil.] Devilish; pertaining to the devil; hence, extremely malicious; impious; atrocious; nefarious; outrageously wicked; partaking of any quality ascribed to the devil; as a diabolical temper; a diabolical scheme or action.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil; "devilish schemes"; "the cold calculation and diabolic art of some statesmen"; "the diabolical expression on his face"; "a mephistophelian glint in his eye" [syn: devilish, diabolic, diabolical, mephistophelian, mephistophelean]
2: extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty or befitting hell; "something demonic in him--something that could be cruel"; "fires lit up a diabolic scene"; "diabolical sorcerers under the influence of devils"; "a fiendish despot"; "hellish torture"; "infernal instruments of war"; "satanic cruelty"; "unholy grimaces" [syn: demonic, diabolic, diabolical, fiendish, hellish, infernal, satanic, unholy]

Merriam Webster's

adjective see diabolical

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (also diabolical) 1 of the Devil. 2 devilish; inhumanly cruel or wicked. 3 fiendishly clever or cunning or annoying. Derivatives: diabolically adv. Etymology: ME f. OF diabolique or LL diabolicus f. L diabolus (as DEVIL)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Diabolic Di`a*bol"ic, Diabolical Di`a*bol"ic*al, a. [L. diabolicus, Gr. ? devilish, slanderous: cf. F. diabolique. See Devil.] Pertaining to the devil; resembling, or appropriate, or appropriate to, the devil; devilish; infernal; impious; atrocious; nefarious; outrageously wicked; as, a diabolic or diabolical temper or act. ``Diabolic power.'' --Milton. ``The diabolical institution.'' --Motley. -- Di`a*bol"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Di`a*bol"ic*al*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. Diabolic is used to describe things that people think are caused by or belong to the Devil. (FORMAL) ...the diabolic forces which lurk in all violence. ADJ: ADJ n 2. If you describe something as diabolic, you are emphasizing that it is very bad, extreme, or unpleasant. (mainly AM) Pitt's smile returned, and it was hideously diabolic. = diabolical ADJ [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a.; (also diabolical) Fiendish, infernal, satanic, impious, atrocious, wicked. See devilish.

Moby Thesaurus

Draconian, Mephistophelian, Tartarean, abominable, accursed, animal, anthropophagous, appalling, atrocious, awful, bad, barbaric, barbarous, base, beastly, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, corrupt, cruel, cruel-hearted, cursed, damnable, demoniac, demoniacal, demonic, demonish, demonlike, depraved, devil-like, devilish, diabolical, dreadful, evil, execrable, fell, feral, ferocious, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, flagitious, foul, ghoulish, heinous, hellborn, hellish, hideous, horrible, horrid, ill, impious, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, iniquitous, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, malign, monstrous, murderous, odious, ogreish, ruthless, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, serpentine, sharkish, sinful, sinister, slavering, subhuman, terrible, truculent, unchristian, uncivilized, ungodly, unhallowed, unhuman, vicious, vile, wicked, wolfish