villain
A bad person in a story who fights against the hero and does very wrong or cruel things.
A main character in a book, film, or other story who opposes the hero and does cruel, harmful, or criminal things.
A person people blame for a very bad or harmful situation in real life.
A person, group, or sometimes thing in real life that people see as responsible for serious harm, injustice, or a very bad situation.
A fun, joking way to call someone bad when they do something small and not really harmful.
Used jokingly for someone who behaves in a naughty, cheeky, or slightly dishonest way, but not in a truly serious or evil sense.
- Base: villain
- Plural: villains
cast someone as the villain
1present someone as the bad one
To describe or show a person as the bad one who caused a problem.
- The media quickly cast her as the villain in the corruption scandal.
- He felt the movie unfairly cast his country as the villain in history.
- After the breakup, she was cast as the villain by many of their friends.
make someone out to be the villain
1portray someone as to blame
To talk about someone so that other people think this person is the bad one who caused the problem.
- I’m not the one who lied, so stop making me out to be the villain.
- The article makes the teachers out to be the villains for problems they didn’t create.
- He always makes his parents out to be the villains when he tells the story.
paint someone as the villain
1describe someone as the bad one
To talk about someone in a way that makes people think this person is the main bad person in a situation.
- The report paints the former director as the villain who blocked all reform.
- Some news stories painted the protesters as the villains, while others praised them as heroes.
- He felt the biography painted his father as the villain of the family.
play the villain
1take the bad-person role
To act as the bad person, either in a story or in a situation in real life.
- He usually plays the villain in action movies.
- In our family arguments, I often end up playing the villain so everyone else can feel like the hero.
- The coach decided to play the villain and cut two popular players from the team.
the villain of the piece
1person blamed for a problem
The person or thing that people say is the main cause of a bad situation.
- In many diet books, sugar is described as the villain of the piece.
- The investigation showed that poor planning, not one single manager, was the real villain of the piece.
- By the end of the documentary, the company’s CEO clearly emerges as the villain of the piece.