devilish

adjective dev·il·ish \ ˈde-vᵊl-ish , ˈdev-lish \

|Updated on: 25 Jun 2018

Examples: devilish in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of devilish

1 : resembling or befitting a devil: such as

a : evil, sinister

b : mischievous, roguish

a devilish grin

2 : extreme

in a devilish hurry

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devilish

adverb

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devilishly

adverb

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devilishness

noun

See devilish defined for English-language learners

See devilish defined for kids

Examples of devilish in a Sentence

She was attracted by his devilish charm.
There was a devilish look of mischief in her eyes.

Recent Examples of devilish from the Web

The ball was going to end up some 30 yards off the green and roll behind a bunker, leaving a devilish pitch off a razor-thin lie.

— daniel rapaport, SI.com, "FORE Questions: Breaking Down an Eventful U.S. Open at Shinnecock," 19 June 2018
The team, which includes computer scientists Stephen McAleer, Forest Agostinelli, Alexander Shmakov, and Pierre Baldi, see potential for autodidactic iteration to get used for things beyond devilish puzzles from the 80s.

— david grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Machine Learning Finally Tackles the Rubik's Cube," 15 June 2018
At Shinnecock Hills, golfers are faced with ever-present wind and a devilish set of greens.

— gary d'amato, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "D'Amato: Can a golfer with limited power still win the U.S. Open?," 9 June 2018
Either way, even if the Foamposite only ever remains a delightfully devilish insider shoe, the Force Posite is the type of shoe that feels just right for the times: cool and ugly all at once.

— tyler watamanuk, GQ, "The Nike Force Posite Is the Rare Sneaker Mashup That Works," 7 June 2018
The character herself is thinly conceived, a cynical but unimaginative facsimile of our idea of the Hollywood starlet, yet Hathaway takes every opportunity to dive into the role, hamming it up underneath the devilish glaze of a raspberry red lip.

— alex abad-santos, Vox, "Ocean’s 8 isn’t a great movie, but it’s a perfect summer movie.," 6 June 2018
Zuckerberg straightens up in his chair—this issue is dead in the center of the devilish tensions between trust-building and maintaining momentum.

— steven levy, WIRED, "Mark Zuckerberg Says It Will Take 3 Years to Fix Facebook," 1 May 2018
The dress Kate Middleton wore for Prince Louis’ baby debut is drawing some devilish comparisons on social media.

— mike miller, PEOPLE.com, "Kate Middleton's Baby Reveal Dress Looks Like It's from Rosemary's Baby and Twitter Is Losing It," 27 Apr. 2018
In a hallway of an engineering building at Stanford University, some devilish researchers have built a sprawling obstacle course.

— matt simon, WIRED, "The Clever Vine-Like Robot That Grows and Steers With Air," 19 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'devilish.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, Satan is usually referred to as diabolos or “slanderer” (from the Greek verb diaballein, “to slander,” literally “to throw across”). But in the Greek New Testament, the Hebrew word, which is Satanas or Satan in its Greek form, is used as if it were the devil’s proper name. The older Latin translations of the Bible retain Greek diabolos as diabolus, but St. Jerome’s version, the Vulgate, calls the devil Satan. Both words were borrowed into Old English, and we now call this figure both Satan and the Devil. The derived form devilish first appears in the 15th century.