wicked
Usage
What are other ways to say wicked?
Wicked implies willful and determined doing of what is very wrong: a wicked plan. Evil applies to that which violates or leads to the violation of moral law: evil practices. Ill now appears mainly in certain fixed expressions, with a milder implication than that in evil: ill will; ill-natured. Bad is the broadest and simplest term: a bad man; bad habits.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The wicked Navier-Stokes problem had vexed mathematicians for nearly a century.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
It’s so sneeringly wicked that it almost seems cartoonish, doesn’t it?
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
"I really rate Andy Burnham for what he's done with Manchester. I think he's wicked," said McCulloch, 22.
From Barron's ● Jul. 20, 2026
This included their attempts at British accents as they declared the evening to be "absolutely wicked".
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
Can you believe that Julian phoned Channing Williams, my wicked predecessor, and threatened to quit unless she was moved?”
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
So here are deviled eggs, made wickeder by breading and deep-frying the whites, crunchy veneer giving way to wobble.
From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2017
Think of this book as a typical English-village mystery with a wickeder sting.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 7, 2010
That is Day-Lewis' goal and gift: to be so true to his characters that they need never be sentimentalized, made to seem finer, grander, wickeder or more appealing.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Forgiveness of injuries is ordained unto us as our first of duties," rejoined Mildred with another demure look—which was all the wickeder for its demureness.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 354, April 1845 by Various
This, it seemed to me, was totally unnecessary, for a wickeder rooster I was convinced never lived.
From San Crist?bal de la Habana by Joseph Hergesheimer
Efforts to make it appear that one of the world’s wickedest men would be in thrall to this milky, recessive nonentity are laughable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
Both characters are deeply, deeply decent people with an instinct towards caretaking and compassion, with an underlying, usually unspoken assumption that, if they’re kind enough, even the wickedest of foes will be disarmed.
From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2021
But Delta is by no means the wickedest variant out there.
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2021
Watching scenes of Kingsley not being listened to, or overlooked, or talked to with the wickedest of tongues, it’s impossible to disagree.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 15, 2020
Miss Throckmorton used to tell us that people who carve things on trees are the wickedest sorts of vandals 'cause they're not only making graffiti, they're hurting living beings too.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Vocabulary lists containing wicked
Oh, No! Synonyms for "Bad"
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Macbeth's "Is this a dagger..." soliloquy
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"Frankenstein" and "How Frankenstein Began"
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