Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Fiendish |
FiendishAdjective1. Extremely evil or cruel; expressive of cruelty or befitting hell; "something demonic in him--something that could be cruel"; "fires lit up a diabolic scene"; "diabolical sorcerers under the influence of devils"; "a fiendish despot"; "hellish torture"; "infernal instruments of war"; "satanic cruelty"; "unholy grimaces". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "fiendish" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1374. (references) |
Synonyms: FiendishSynonyms: demonic (adj), diabolic (adj), diabolical (adj), hellish (adj), infernal (adj), satanic (adj), unholy (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Demon | Adjective: demonic, demonical, impish, demoniacal; fiendish, fiend-like; supernatural, weird, uncanny, unearthly, spectral; ghostly, ghost-like; elfin, elvin, elfish, elflike; haunted; pokerish. |
Malevolence | Fiendish, fiendlike; demoniacal; diabolic, diabolical; devilish, infernal, hellish, Satanic; Tartaran. |
Vice | Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Fiendish |
| English words defined with "fiendish": competition ♦ demonic, diabolic, diabolical ♦ Fiendful, Fiendlike ♦ hellish ♦ infernal, Infernal stone ♦ satanic ♦ unholy. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | A woman is the most fiendish instrument of torture ever devised to bedevil the days of man. (O Brother, Where Art Thou?; writing credit: Ethan Coen) A fiendish thingie! (Help!; writing credit: Marc Behm; Charles Wood) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Perfectly Fiendish Flanagan (1918) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Cackle; cackling; evil; sinister; Mephistophelean; accursed; devil; cursed; damnable; damned; demoniac; demonic; detestable; diabolic; diabolical; execrable; fiendish; hellborn; hellish; hell; infernal; iniquitous; nefarious; satanic; serpentine; unhallow. | | Abominable; amoral; atrocious; base; contemptible; corrupt; debased; degenerate; depraved; devilish; dissolute; egregious; evil; fiendish; flagitious; foul; gross; guilty; heartless; heinous; immoral; impious; impish; incorrigible; indecent; iniquitous; i. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | Such is the language of those fiendish tormentors, words of taunting and of reproach, of hatred and of disgust. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Fiendish" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 92.31% of the time. "Fiendish" is used about 52 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 92.31% | 48 | 49,194 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 3.85% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.92% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 1.92% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 52 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
fiendish | 14 |
fiendish game | 5 |
the fiendish plot of dr fu manchu | 3 |
backgammon fiendish game | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "fiendish"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | mizor (atrocious, cruel, despiteful, draconian, draconic, ferocious, inhuman, outrageous, pitiless, savage), djallëzor (demoniacal, demonic, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, hellish, satanic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | وحشي (atrocious, barbarian, barbarous, bestial, bloodthirsty, bloody, brutal, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, cruel, diabolic, diabolical, draconian, feral, fierce, ill, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, remorseless, ruffian, savage, truculent, unfeeling, vicious, wanton, wild), صعب جدا, ردئ (bad, base, bastard, bum, coarse, common, doggie, evil, fearful, foul, ill, inferior, nice, paltry, poor, poorness, putrid, second rate, slim, sour, tacky, tinpot, unhealthy, vicious, villainous, watery), شيطاني (demoniacal, demonic, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, hellish, impish, infernal, playful, satanic, serpentine, swinging, unholy). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | сатанински (satanic, sulphurous, unholy), жесток (bestial, bloody, butcherly, cruel, dark, diabolic, diabolical, draconian, draconic, fell, ferocious, fierce, ghoulish, grinding, harsh, ill, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, iron, mean, merciless, monstrous, outrageous, sanguinary, shrewd, slashing, truculent, unfeeling, unkind, unmerciful, unrelenting), адски (hellish, infernal, infernally, plutonian, sulphurous, tartarean), дяволски (cursedly, demonic, deuced, deucedly, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, infernal, plaguy, tarnal). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 恶"似, 凶惡 (ferocious, fierce). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | příšerný (appalling, atrocious, blinding, chronic, creepy, damnable, dreadful, excruciating, fearful, ghastly, grisly, gruesome, horrendous, terrible, terrific, unholy, unspeakable, villainous, weird), otřesný (appalling, atrocious, awful, fearful, ghastly, harrowing, hateful, staggering, ugly, villainous), nelidský (fell, inhuman, subhuman, unearthly), ïábelský (demoniacal, devilish, diabolic, infernal, satanic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | monstre (fiend), mauvais, méchant, difficile (finicking), diabolique. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | teuflisch (devilish, devilishly, diabolic, diabolical, evil, hellish, infernal). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | σατανικόσ (devilish, diabolic, diabolical, satanic, sulphurous), διαβολικόσ (devilish, diabolic, diabolical, hellish, impish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | שט י (devilish, diabolic, hellish, infernal, satanic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | pokoli (deuced, hellish, helluva, infernal, stygian), ördögien gonosz. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | demoniaco (daemoniac, daemoniacal, demoniac, demoniacal, ghoulish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 凶悪 (atrocious, brutal, villainous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | きょうあく (atrocious, brutal, great treachery, very atrocious person, villainous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | flaieeagh (impish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | iendishfay diabólico (demoniacal, demonic, deuced, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, impish, infernal, mephistofelian, satanic), demoníaco (daemonic, demoniacal, demonic, impish). (various references) diavolesc (devilish, diabolic, diabolical), diabolic (demoniac, demonic, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, diabolically, hellish, infernal). (various references) жестокий (atrocious, barbarous, bitter, bloody minded, bloody-minded, brutal, brutish, butcherly, cruel, cutthroat, despiteful, doggish, ferocious, fierce, grim, hard bitten, heathenish, heavy-handed, inhuman, inhumane, iron-handed, keen, mortal, satrapic, uncharitable, unfeeling, unkind, unrelenting), дьявольский (blinking, demonic, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, ghoulish, hellish, infernal). (various references) đavolski (deuced, devil, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, impish, ruddy). (various references) diabólico (devilish, diabolic, diabolical, hellish). (various references) ondskefull (baleful, ill natured, pernicious, sinister, unholy), djävulsk (daemonic, demoniacal, demonic, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, hellish, infernal, satanic, satanical). (various references) ชั่วร้าย (black, egregious, evil, hellish, rapacious, sinful). (various references) zalim (arbitrary, atrocious, bloody minded, brutal, cruel, cutthroat, daemon, demon, draconian, draconic, fell, felon, flinty, grim, heavy, heavy-handed, ill natured, inhuman, miscreant, ogre, oppressive, oppressor, outrageous, persecutor, sanguinary, savage, stony, truculent, tyrannic, tyrannical), şeytani (demonic, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, infernal, satanic, unhallowed), şeytanca (cloven-hoofed, demoniac, demoniacal, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, hellish, malicious, mephistophelean, mephistophelian, satanic, slily), acımasız (atrocious, brutal, coldhearted, cruel, cutthroat, dead, despot, ferocious, flinty, grim, hard-hearted, harsh, implacable, inclement, inexorable, inhumane, merciless, outrageous, pitiless, relentless, ruthless, slashing, stern, truculent, tyrannic, tyrannical, tyrannous, unmerciful, unpitied, unrelenting, without remorse). (various references) лиходійський (villainous), диявольський (demoniacal, demonic, hellish, satanic, satanical). (various references) như quỷ sứ t n ác, như ma quỷ (fiendlike), hung ác (cruel, cruelly, ferocious, tigerish, tigrish). (various references) ellyllaidd, dieflig (devilish, diabolical), cythreulig (devilish). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "fiendish": fiendishly, fiendishness, fiendishnesses. (additional references) | |
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"Fiendish" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: fedish, Fendis, Fianuis, findeth, fineish, friandise. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "fiendish" (pronounced fē"ndi'sh) |
| 3 | -d i' sh | childish. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: finished. | |
| Words within the letters "d-e-f-h-i-i-n-s" | |
-2 letters: fiends, finish, fished, indies, inside, shined. | |
-3 letters: defis, dines, fends, fiend, finds, fined, fines, finis, hides, hinds, indie, neifs, nides, nisei, shend, shied, shine, snide. | |
-4 letters: defi, deni, dens, dies, dine, dins, dish, edhs, ends, feds, fehs, fend, fens, fids, find, fine, fins, fish, hens, hide, hied, hies, hind, hins, hisn, ides, neif. | |
| Words containing the letters "d-e-f-h-i-i-n-s" | |
+2 letters: fiendishly, friendship, refinished, unfinished. | |
+3 letters: blindfishes, friendships. | |
+4 letters: disfranchise, disfurnished, disfurnishes, fiendishness, semifinished. | |
+5 letters: disfranchised, disfranchises, dolphinfishes. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)46 69 65 6E 64 69 73 68 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references)..-. .. . -. -.. .. ... .... |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000110 01101001 01100101 01101110 01100100 01101001 01110011 01101000 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)F i e n d i s h |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0046 0069 0065 006E 0064 0069 0073 0068 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4075718070758574 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Sounds 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Derivations 12. Rhymes | 13. Anagrams 14. Orthography 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
