Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of, resembling, or characteristic of a devil, as.
- adjective Malicious; evil.
- adjective Mischievous, teasing, or annoying.
- adjective Excessive; extreme.
- adverb Extremely; very.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Characteristic of the devil; befitting the devil, or a devil or demon; diabolical; malignant: as, a devilish scheme; devilish conduct.
- Extreme; enormous.
- Synonyms Satanic, infernal, hellish, impious, wicked, atrocious, nefarious.
- Excessively; enormously.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Resembling, characteristic of, or pertaining to, the devil; diabolical; wicked in the extreme.
- adjective colloq. Extreme; excessive.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Resembling a devil.
- adjective Characteristic of a
devil . - adjective informal Extreme, excessive.
- adverb informal
Devilishly .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb in a playfully devilish manner
- adjective showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a devil
- adjective playful in an appealingly bold way
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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You may be in devilish fine form to-day, but your throat is rotten.
The Water Baby 2010
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You may be in devilish fine form to-day, but your throat is rotten.
THE WATER BABY 2010
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You may be in devilish fine form to-day, but your throat is rotten.
The Water Baby 1919
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Sometimes an otherwise calm and serene person gathers a look that can best be described as devilish.
Peter Baksa: Ego: A Bad Word? Peter Baksa 2011
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Sometimes an otherwise calm and serene person gathers a look that can best be described as devilish.
Peter Baksa: Ego: A Bad Word? Peter Baksa 2011
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Sometimes an otherwise calm and serene person gathers a look that can best be described as devilish.
Peter Baksa: Ego: A Bad Word? Peter Baksa 2011
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Sometimes an otherwise calm and serene person gathers a look that can best be described as devilish.
Peter Baksa: Ego: A Bad Word? Peter Baksa 2011
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A divine love which had in it no necessity of hating evil would be profoundly immoral, and would be called devilish more fitly than divine.
Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah and Jeremiah Alexander Maclaren 1868
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This may be called a devilish zeal; for as there is the faith of devils, so there is the zeal of devils: "Therefore his rage is great, because he knows his time is short."
The Almost Christian Discovered; or, the False Professor Tried and Cast. 1629-1699 1856
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The one are fellows called devilish good -- the other, fellows called devilish gentleman like.
Godolphin, Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
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