'Villainy' definitions:
Definition of 'villainy'
From: WordNet
noun
The quality of evil by virtue of villainous behavior [syn: villainy, villainousness]
noun
A criminal or vicious act
Definition of 'Villainy'
From: GCIDE
- Villainy \Vil"lain*y\, n.; pl. Villainies. [OE. vilanie, OF. vilanie, vilainie, vileinie, vilanie, LL. villania. See Villain, n.] [Written also villany.]
- 1. The quality or state of being a villain, or villainous; extreme depravity; atrocious wickedness; as, the villainy of the seducer. "Lucre of vilanye." --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- The commendation is not in his wit, but in his villainy. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Abusive, reproachful language; discourteous speech; foul talk. [Archaic] [1913 Webster]
- He never yet not vileinye ne said In all his life, unto no manner wight. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
- In our modern language, it [foul language] is termed villainy, as being proper for rustic boors, or men of coarsest education and employment. --Barrow. [1913 Webster]
- Villainy till a very late day expressed words foul and disgraceful to the utterer much oftener than deeds. --Trench. [1913 Webster]
- 3. The act of a villain; a deed of deep depravity; a crime. [1913 Webster]
- Such villainies roused Horace into wrath. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
- That execrable sum of all villainies commonly called a slave trade. --John Wesley. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'villainy'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- abomination,
- atrocity,
- bad,
- baseness,
- chicanery,
- degradation,
- disgrace,
- error,
- evil,
- infamy,
- iniquity,
- knavery,
- knavishness,
- moral turpitude,
- obliquity,
- peccancy,
- rascality,
- rascalry,
- reprobacy,
- roguery,
- roguishness,
- scampishness,
- scandal,
- scoundrelism,
- shame,
- sin,
- turpitude,
- vileness,
- villainousness,
- wrong