wicked
Americanadjective
-
evil or morally bad in principle or practice; sinful; iniquitous.
wicked people;
wicked habits.
- Synonyms:
- villainous, infamous, heinous, dissolute, depraved, corrupt, profligate, immoral, blasphemous, profane, impious, godless, ungodly, unrighteous
-
mischievous or playfully malicious.
These wicked kittens upset everything.
-
distressingly severe, as a storm, wound, or cold.
a wicked winter.
-
passing reasonable bounds; intolerably bad.
wicked prices;
a wicked exam.
-
having a bad disposition; ill-natured; mean.
a wicked horse.
-
spiteful; malevolent; vicious.
a wicked tongue.
-
extremely troublesome or dangerous.
wicked roads.
-
a wicked odor.
-
Slang. wonderful; great; masterful; deeply satisfying.
He blows a wicked trumpet.
adverb
adjective
-
-
morally bad in principle or practice
-
( as collective noun; preceded by the )
the wicked
-
-
mischievous or roguish, esp in a playful way
a wicked grin
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causing injury or harm
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troublesome, unpleasant, or offensive
-
slang very good
Usage
What are other ways to say wicked?
Someone or something wicked is morally bad in principle or practice. But calling someone or something wicked isn’t quite the same as calling them bad, evil, or ill. Find out why on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of wicked
First recorded in 1225–75; Middle English wikked, equivalent to wikke “bad” (representing adjective use of Old English wicca “wizard”; cf. witch) + -ed -ed 3
Explanation
Wicked has two quite contradictory meanings. If something is pure evil, then it is wicked. Think Darth Vader. On the other hand, as an informal slang term, wicked also means excellent — as in "that DJ is wicked, man!" Go figure. Other shades of meaning for wicked include something that is playful or enjoyably malicious. Someone might have a wicked sense of humor, for example, meaning it's fierce and takes aim sharply at its victims. Or it can also mean something that, while not actively evil, is still extremely unpleasant. Exams can be wicked, and so can someone's temper or the weather. The word comes from the Old English term wicca meaning "wizard."
Vocabulary lists containing wicked
Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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Macbeth's "Is this a dagger..." soliloquy
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"Frankenstein" and "How Frankenstein Began"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As he seeks her in the present day, he is tasked with hunting wicked supernatural creatures for the Afterlife Immigration Office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
But “Blow Out” goes one step further by bringing Jack and Sally — two unwitting parties to the same wicked plot — together.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
He played sensibly, taking 80 balls over his 58, until he was bowled by a wicked delivery from Foulkes that angled in, then straightened.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
A recurrent theme of “The Fire Agent” is the way that progress is exploited for wicked ends by militarists and nationalists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
I watched him without making a sound as he chanted something vile and wicked, something that made my heart flinch in my chest.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
So here are deviled eggs, made wickeder by breading and deep-frying the whites, crunchy veneer giving way to wobble.
From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2017
Think of this book as a typical English-village mystery with a wickeder sting.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2010
That is Day-Lewis' goal and gift: to be so true to his characters that they need never be sentimentalized, made to seem finer, grander, wickeder or more appealing.
From Time Magazine Archive
For nothing shows a wickeder heart than being willing to involve another, and especially one’s own child, in a lifelong sorrow in order to gratify some feeling of one’s own.
From The Expositor's Bible: The First Book of Samuel by Blaikie, William Garden
Colder than ever was the monosyllable, and Julia felt herself growing wickeder and wickeder, and she knew that directly she would be bad enough not to respond in any wise to whatever he might say.
From The Man from Jericho by Litsey, Edwin Carlile
Efforts to make it appear that one of the world’s wickedest men would be in thrall to this milky, recessive nonentity are laughable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
America has a problem,” the title of the bottom-bumping Miami bass jam that doubles as the wickedest joke on the “Renaissance” album.
From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2023
Both characters are deeply, deeply decent people with an instinct towards caretaking and compassion, with an underlying, usually unspoken assumption that, if they’re kind enough, even the wickedest of foes will be disarmed.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2021
It earned Port Royal the epithet of “the richest and wickedest city in the world”.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 24, 2016
In the blackness of the eternal night, all the wickedest creatures—the trolls and banshees and ogres—have driven the good creatures into hiding.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.