Meaning & use
evildoers
Last updated
UK/ˈiːvlˌduːəz/
US/ˈivəlˌduɚz/
“evildoers” is a form of “evildoer”.
Meaning
nounpluralliterary
People who deliberately do wicked or harmful things.
Grammar: Plural of evildoer: the evildoers were punished.
Patterns
- punish evildoers
- evildoers in a story
The hero hunts the evildoers who burned the village.
The speaker warned that evildoers would not go unpunished.
In the old tale, the evildoers are exposed at the end.
Word forms
| singular | evildoer |
|---|
Common combinations
- punish evildoers
- The king promised to punish evildoers.
- bring evildoers to justice
- The sheriff vowed to bring the evildoers to justice.
- fight evildoers
- Superheroes fight evildoers in the city.
- deter evildoers
- Strong laws deter evildoers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wrongdoers
- It is more neutral and can describe any lawbreakers, not only deeply wicked people.
- villains
- It is used for characters in stories and suggests a role rather than a moral failing.
- criminals
- It means people who break the law, which may or may not be evil.
- malefactors
- It is much more formal and is mostly found in legal or old writing.
Opposites
do-gooderssaints
Word family
Commonly confused: evildoers or evil-doers?
evildoers vs evil-doers
This hyphenated spelling is less common than the single word evildoers.
Practice
In an old story, the people who burned the village are called:
Choose one answer.
Evildoers are wicked people. The other words describe helpful or neutral people.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “evildoers”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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