devilish.

1. Resembling an imagined devil in wickedness or harmful intent.

2. Playfully mischievous or impish.

3. Remarkably difficult or troublesome in an informal emphatic description.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• devilish cruelty
• devilish scheme

On the page

The villain devised a devilish scheme to isolate the witness.

Usage notes

Primary category: horror / gothic. Forms: Comparative more devilish; superlative most devilish when comparison is meaningful. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: atmosphere, description. Commonness: moderately common.