Adjacent Words

fiendish definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: 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 Date: 1529 1. perversely diabolical <took a fiendish pleasure in hurting people> 2. extremely cruel or wicked 3. excessively bad, unpleasant, or difficult <fiendish weather> • fiendishly adverb • fiendishness noun

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fiendish Fiend"ish, a. Like a fiend; diabolically wicked or cruel; infernal; malignant; devilish; hellish. -- Fiend"ish*ly, adv. -- Fiend"ish*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. A fiendish plan, action, or device is very clever or imaginative. (INFORMAL) ...a fiendish plot. = devilish ADJ: usu ADJ n • fiendishly This figure is reached by a fiendishly clever equation. ADV: usu ADV adj 2. A fiendish problem or task is very difficult and challenging. (INFORMAL) ...the fiendish difficulty of the questions. ADJ: ADJ n • fiendishly America's trade laws are fiendishly complex. ADV: ADV adj 3. A fiendish person enjoys being cruel. This was a fiendish act of wickedness. ADJ: usu ADJ n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Diabolical, devilish, demoniac, hellish, infernal, malignant, malign, malicious, malevolent, implacable, atrocious, cruel, delighting in cruelty.

Moby Thesaurus

Draconian, Mephistophelian, Tartarean, animal, anthropophagous, atrocious, bad, baleful, barbaric, barbarous, beastly, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, cruel, cruel-hearted, cursed, damnable, demoniac, demoniacal, demonic, demonish, demonlike, devil-like, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, evil, execrable, fell, feral, ferocious, fiendlike, fierce, ghoulish, heinous, hellborn, hellish, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, monstrous, murderous, ogreish, outrageous, ruthless, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, serpentine, sharkish, sinister, slavering, subhuman, truculent, unchristian, uncivilized, ungodly, unhallowed, unhuman, vicious, wicked, wolfish