evil

pos>a. [ OE. evel, evil, ifel, uvel, AS. yfel; akin to OFries, evel, D. euvel, OS. & OHG. ubil, G. übel, Goth. ubils, and perh. to E. over. ] 1. Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous; not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil beast; and evil plant; an evil crop. [ 1913 Webster ]

A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit. Matt. vii. 18. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt; wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart, words, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ah, what a sign it is of evil life,
When death's approach is seen so terrible. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil arrows; evil days. [ 1913 Webster ]

Because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. Deut. xxii. 19. [ 1913 Webster ]

The owl shrieked at thy birth -- an evil sign. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Evil news rides post, while good news baits. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Evil eye, an eye which inflicts injury by some magical or fascinating influence. It is still believed by the ignorant and superstitious that some persons have the supernatural power of injuring by a look. [ 1913 Webster ] It almost led him to believe in the evil eye. J. H. Newman. --
Evil speaking, speaking ill of others; calumny; censoriousness. --
The evil one, the Devil; Satan. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Evil is sometimes written as the first part of a compound (with or without a hyphen). In many cases the compounding need not be insisted on. Examples: Evil doer or evildoer, evil speaking or evil-speaking, evil worker, evil wishing, evil-hearted, evil-minded.

Syn. -- Mischieveous; pernicious; injurious; hurtful; destructive; wicked; sinful; bad; corrupt; perverse; wrong; vicious; calamitous. [ 1913 Webster ]