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say it: EE-vuhl
evil is a noun and adjective meaning "morally objectionable behavior". It is pronounced /ˈivəl/ — EE-vuhl. It carries 6 recorded senses.
morally objectionable behavior
that which causes harm or destruction or misfortune
“the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones”
the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice
“attempts to explain the origin of evil in the world”
morally bad or wrong
“evil purposes”
“an evil influence”
“evil deeds”
having or exerting a malignant influence
“malevolent stars”
“a malefic force”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for evil come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.