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wicked

wic·ked

UK/ˈwɪkɪd/ US/wɪkt/ common slang uk

adjective

1.
2.

having committed unrighteous acts

  • “a sinful person”
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3.

intensely or extremely bad or unpleasant in degree or quality

  • “severe pain”
  • “a severe case of flu”
  • “a terrible cough”
  • “under wicked fire from the enemy”
  • “;”
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4.

morally bad or wrong

  • “evil purposes”
  • “an evil influence”
  • “evil deeds”
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Antonyms
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5.

highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust

  • “a disgusting smell”
  • “distasteful language”
  • “a loathsome disease”
  • “the idea of eating meat is repellent to me”
  • “revolting food”
  • “a wicked stench”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

From Middle English wicked, wikked, an alteration of Middle English wicke, wikke (“morally perverse, evil, wicked”). Of uncertain origin. Possibly from an adjectival use of Old English wiċċa (“wizard, sorcerer”), from Proto-West Germanic *wikkō (“necromancer, sorcerer”), though the phonology makes this theory difficult to explain. Alternatively, perhaps related to English wicker, Old Norse víkja (“to bend to, yield, turn, move”), Swedish vika (“to bend, fold, give way to”), English weak. The "excellent, awesome" sense is an ameliorative semantic shift from the original sense of "evil, mischievous". Compare similar semantic development in terrific and sick.

Phrases

  • have one's wicked way with
  • no rest for the wicked
  • no sleep for the wicked
  • wicked pissah
  • wicked problem
  • wicked tongue

Related words

Word family

See also

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.