ENGLISH
REFERENCE

wicked

adj.
B1 Intermediate US //ˈwɪkəd// wicked Archaic Dialect Slang

adj. describes someone or something that is very bad or cruel. In some places, people also use it to mean 'excellent' or 'very cool'.

adj. morally evil or cruel in character; in specific informal dialects, it functions as an intensifier meaning excellent or impressive.


SIMPLE

The wicked queen tried to trick the princess.

CONTEXTUAL

The movie features a wicked villain who wants to take over the entire world.

Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

See wick.

Usage

Often used as an intensifier in certain dialects (e.g., 'wicked fast').

Idioms1 entry

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