diabolical

«diabolical» in Mova's school dictionary: Very wicked or cruel, as if done by the Devil, as in «a… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (diabolical); adverb diabolically

meaning for a pupil

1) Very wicked or cruel, as if done by the Devil, as in «a diabolical plan». tree →

2) (UK, informal) Extremely bad or of very poor quality, as in «The traffic was diabolical». tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories villains have «diabolical plots» and «diabolical laughs»; the word shows evil cleverness. In everyday British talk, adults use it to complain: «That refereeing was diabolical». It comes from «diabolos», Greek for devil.

examples

• The villain revealed his diabolical plan to flood the city. tree →
• The weather on our holiday was diabolical. tree →
• That's a diabolical penalty decision! tree →
• The witch gave a diabolical cackle. tree →
• My handwriting was diabolical when I was in a hurry. tree →
• The trap was diabolically clever. tree →

note

Said «dye-uh-BOL-ik-ul». The informal «very bad» sense is mainly British. Related: «devil», «diabolic».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «diabolical» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.