EVIL


Meaning of EVIL in English

(~s)

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.

1.

Evil is a powerful force that some people believe to exist, and which causes wicked and bad things to happen.

There’s always a conflict between good and ~ in his plays.

? good

N-UNCOUNT

2.

Evil is used to refer to all the wicked and bad things that happen in the world.

He could not, after all, stop all the ~ in the world.

N-UNCOUNT

3.

If you refer to an ~, you mean a very unpleasant or harmful situation or activity.

Higher taxes may be a necessary ~.

...a lecture on the ~s of alcohol.

N-COUNT

4.

If you describe someone as ~, you mean that they are very wicked by nature and take pleasure in doing things that harm other people.

...the country’s most ~ terrorists...

She’s an ~ woman.

ADJ

5.

If you describe something as ~, you mean that you think it causes a great deal of harm to people and is morally bad.

After 1760 few Americans refrained from condemning slavery as ~...

ADJ

6.

If you describe something as ~, you mean that you think it is influenced by the d~.

I think this is an ~ spirit at work...

ADJ

7.

You can describe a very unpleasant smell as ~.

Both men were smoking ~-smelling pipes.

ADJ

8.

If someone is putting off the ~ day or the ~ hour, they have to do something unpleasant and are trying to avoid doing it for as long as possible.

You can simply go on putting off the ~ day and eventually find yourself smoking as much as ever.

PHRASE: usu v PHR

9.

If you have two choices, but think that they are both bad, you can describe the one which is less bad as the lesser of two ~s, or the lesser ~.

People voted for him as the lesser of two ~s...

PHRASE

Collins COBUILD.      Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) .