Standard Lemma guide

nefarious

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /nɪˈfɛəɹi.əs/
  • Australian: /nɪˈfeːɹi.əs/
  • Queensland Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɛəɹi.əs
  • CMU ARPABET: N AH0 F EH1 R IY0 AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Aliens have a nefarious connotation in many science fiction books.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: evil, iniquitous, sinister, underhanded, vile, good-for-nothing, abandoned, arrant, bad, bad apple, bad seed, baleful, scurrilous, baneful, base, black-hearted, dark, deleterious, demonic, depraved, despicable, detrimental, devilish, diabolical, evil-minded, facinorous, flagitious, harmful, heinous, ill-intentioned, ill-natured, immoral, incorrigible, iniquous, injurious, knavish, malefic, maleficent, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, naughty, nefarious, niddering, nidering, niding, nithing, no-good, peccaminous, pernicious, reprehensible, reprobate, satanic, scathful, sinful, sordid, sullen, ungodly, unholy, vicious, villainous, wicked, wrong, disreputable, ill-famed, infamous, notorious

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

extremely wicked

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • nefarious schemes
  • a villainous plot
  • a villainous band of thieves

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: villainous

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Latin nefārius (“execrable, abominable”), from nefās (“something contrary to divine law, an impious deed, sin, crime”), from ne- (“not”) + fās (“the dictates of religion, divine law”), which is related to Latin for (“to speak, to say”) and cognate to Ancient Greek φημί (phēmí, “to say”).

Across languages

Translations

65 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: شَائِن (šāʔin) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Bulgarian: престъпен (prestǎpen) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Czech: podlý — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Czech: nekalý — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Czech: hanebný — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Dutch: berucht — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Dutch: schandelijk — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Dutch: misdadig — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Esperanto: skandala — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Esperanto: malfarinda — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Finnish: paheellinen — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Finnish: paha — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Finnish: pirullinen — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Finnish: turmeltunut — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Finnish: katala — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • French: infâme — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • French: malfaisant — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • French: néfaste — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • French: maléfique — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • French: malveillant — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • German: berüchtigt — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • German: schändlich — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • German: ruchlos — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • German: verachtenswert — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • German: bösartig — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • German: böse — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Hungarian: gyalázatos — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Hungarian: alávaló — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Irish: bithiúnta — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Italian: nefasto — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Italian: scellerato — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Italian: diabolico — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Italian: infernale — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Italian: sinistro — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Korean: 사악(邪惡)하다 (saakhada) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Latin: nefārius — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skjendig — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ondsinnet — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Norwegian Bokmål: avskyelig — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ryggesløs — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Plautdietsch: schentlich — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Portuguese: nefasto — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Romanian: abject — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Romanian: infam — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Romanian: păcătos — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Romanian: vicios — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Russian: бесче́стный (besčéstnyj) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Russian: нече́стный (nečéstnyj) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Russian: ни́зкий (nízkij) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Russian: гну́сный (gnúsnyj) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Russian: ме́рзкий (mérzkij) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Russian: по́длый (pódlyj) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Spanish: nefario — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Spanish: nefando — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Spanish: feo — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Spanish: infame — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Spanish: vicioso — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Spanish: malvado — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Spanish: inicuo — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Swedish: skändlig — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Swedish: gudlös — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Ukrainian: нечестивий (nečestyvyj) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Ukrainian: злочинний (zločynnyj) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Ukrainian: нечесний (nečesnyj) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics
  • Ukrainian: ниций (nycyj) — sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics