Idiom
black hat
Meaning
A villain in a story, especially in a Western (a film or other work of the Western genre).
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The man in the black hat is the villain.”
“In the old movie, the hero faces off against the black hat who terrorizes the town.”
“The director subverted expectations by casting the protagonist as a black hat, blurring the traditional lines between morality and malice.”
Examples
simple
“The man in the black hat is the villain.”
contextual
“In the old movie, the hero faces off against the black hat who terrorizes the town.”
complex
“The director subverted expectations by casting the protagonist as a black hat, blurring the traditional lines between morality and malice.”
Origin
The term derives from the black hats traditionally worn by men in Haredi communities. The headwear is a characteristic element of the specific religious dress required by the Haredi lifestyle.
Key words
Related idioms
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