Diabolical

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Diabolic \Di`a*bol"ic\, Diabolical \Di`a*bol"ic*al\, a. [L.
     diabolicus, Gr. ? devilish, slanderous: cf. F. diabolique.
     See {Devil}.]
     1. Pertaining to the devil; resembling, or appropriate, or
        appropriate to, the devil; befitting hell or satan;
        devilish; infernal; impious; as, a diabolic or diabolical


        temper or act; the diabolical expression on his face;
        fires lit up a diabolic scene. "Diabolic power." --Milton.
        "The diabolical institution." --Motley.
  
     Syn: devilish, mephistophelian, mephistophelean.
          [1913 Webster]
  
     2. showing a wicked cunning or ingenuity; as, the cold
        calculation and diabolic art of some statesmen.
  
     Syn: devilish, mephistophelian, mephistophelean.
          [WordNet 1.5]
  
     3. extremely evil or cruel; atrocious; outrageously wicked;
        as, diabolical sorcerers under the influence of devils;
        diabolical torturers taking pleasure in their craft.
  
     Syn: demonic, fiendish, hellish, infernal, nefarious,
          satanic.
          [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5] -- {Di`a*bol"ic*al*ly},
          adv. -- {Di`a*bol"ic*al*ness}, n.

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  diabolical
       adj 1: showing the cunning or ingenuity or wickedness typical of a
              devil; "devilish schemes"; "the cold calculation and
              diabolic art of some statesmen"; "the diabolical
              expression on his face"; "a mephistophelian glint in
              his eye" [syn: {devilish}, {diabolic}, {mephistophelian},
               {mephistophelean}]
       2: 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" [syn: {demonic}, {diabolic},
           {fiendish}, {hellish}, {infernal}, {satanic}, {unholy}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  61 Moby Thesaurus words for "diabolical":
     Draconian, Mephistophelian, Tartarean, animal, anthropophagous,
     atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, beastly, bestial, bloodthirsty,
     bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish,
     cannibalistic, cruel, cruel-hearted, cursed, damnable, demoniac,
     demoniacal, demonic, demonish, demonlike, devil-like, devilish,
     diabolic, execrable, fell, feral, ferocious, fiendish, fiendlike,
     fierce, ghoulish, hellborn, hellish, infernal, inhuman, inhumane,
     murderous, ogreish, ruthless, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous,
     satanic, savage, sharkish, slavering, subhuman, truculent,
     unchristian, uncivilized, ungodly, unhuman, vicious, wolfish