villain

«villain» in Mova's school dictionary: a bad character in a story, play or film who does evil… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a villain, villains)

meaning for a pupil

1) A villain is a bad character in a story, play or film who does evil things and fights against the hero. tree →

2) A person who does wrong or harmful things; a criminal. tree →

sense in the lessons

Used in reading and writing lessons: story characters — hero and villain; describing a villain's appearance and actions. In everyday talk: "the villain of the piece" means the one to blame.

examples

• The villain wanted to steal the crown. tree →
• Every good story needs a hero and a villain. tree →
• The villain laughed an evil laugh. tree →
• Describe your villain using strong adjectives. tree →
• The police caught the villain. tree →
• In the pantomime, everyone boos the villain. tree →
• "Villain!" shouted all the Pygmies at once. tree →

note

Spelling trap: v-i-l-l-a-i-n (ai, not "-ian"). Pronounced "VIL-un". Adjective: villainous. Opposite: hero.

In the corpora

• Ghost stories and playground legends are fun, but they should not turn a real neighbour into a villain.
• Vultures are not villains.
• The book turns hunters into villains because that makes a good story.
• The Rat dances in the road shaking his fists at the vanished car: «You villains! ... you roadhogs!
• The Rat shouted: «You villains! ...

Trees and pragmatics

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