Meaning & use

diabolical

adjective·Advanced

Extremely wicked or cruel, as if characteristic of the devil; also used informally to mean very bad.

See it in a sentence

The villain's diabolical plan involved tricking the entire town into evacuating.

The weather on our camping trip was diabolical, with rain every single night.

A note on using this word

Diabolical is used seriously for genuine cruelty, but is also common informally, especially in British English, to exaggerate something merely terrible, like weather or traffic.

Words with a similar meaning

evilfiendishwicked

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

angelicvirtuous

Make it your own

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