wickedness
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wick·ed
(wĭk′ĭd)wick•ed•ness
(ˈwɪk ɪd nɪs)n.
Wickedness
show one’s horns To reveal one’s evil intentions; to expose one’s malicious, venomous, or insidious nature. This expression alludes to the horns commonly portrayed on the forehead of Satan, an attribute which also gave rise to one of the devil’s nicknames, Old Hornie.
show the cloven hoof To reveal a treacherous nature or evil intentions. The allusion is to the cloven hoof of Satan, long representative of evil. Although the simple term hoof was in use in this figurative sense as early as 1638, the phrase did not appear until much later.
[It] had caused him to show the cloven hoof too soon. (James Payn, The Luck of the Darrells, 1885)
son of Belial A thoroughly evil and despicable person; the embodiment of wickedness; the devil. This expression originated in the Old Testament (I Samuel 2:12):
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord.
Belial, apparently derived from the Hebrew b’li ya’al ‘without use,’ became the equivalent of Satan in later Jewish writings. Belial was also employed as a name for one of the fallen angels in John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667). The expression maintains its theological application for the personification of evil.
A scoffer, a debauched person, and, in brief, a man of Belial. (Sir Walter Scott, The Monastery, 1822)
| Noun | 1. |  wickedness - morally objectionable behavior evildoing, transgression - the act of transgressing; the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle; "the boy was punished for the transgressions of his father" foul play - unfair or dishonest behavior (especially involving violence) irreverence, violation - a disrespectful act sexual immorality - the evil ascribed to sexual acts that violate social conventions; "sexual immorality is the major reason for last year's record number of abortions" |
| 2. | wickedness - absence of moral or spiritual values; "the powers of darkness" condition, status - a state at a particular time; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations" foulness - disgusting wickedness and immorality; "he understood the foulness of sin"; "his display of foulness deserved severe punishment"; "mouths which speak such foulness must be cleansed" | |
| 3. |  wickedness - the quality of being wicked evilness, evil - the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice; "attempts to explain the origin of evil in the world" filthiness - moral corruption or pollution; "this deformity and filthiness of sin" enormity - the quality of extreme wickedness | |
| 4. |  wickedness - estrangement from god unrighteousness - failure to adhere to moral principles; "forgave us our sins and cleansed us of all unrighteousness" mark of Cain - the mark that God set upon Cain now refers to a person's sinful nature | |
| 5. |  wickedness - the quality of being disgusting to the senses or emotions; "the vileness of his language surprised us" |