FromMiddle English develissh develyssh devil -ish Saterland Frisian düvelsk düüwelsk ( “ devilish ” ) ,West Frisian duvelsk ( “ devilish ” ) ,Dutch duivels ( “ devilish ” ) ,German Low German düvelsk ( “ devilish ” ) ,German teuflisch ( “ devilish ” ) ,Danish djævelsk ( “ devilish ” ) ,Swedish djävulsk ( “ devilish ” ) ,Norwegian djevelsk ( “ devilish ” ) .
devilish (comparative moredevilish ,superlative mostdevilish )
Resembling a devil.c. 1587–1588 Christopher Marlowe ],Tamburlaine the Great. [ … ] The First Part [ … ] [ … ] [ R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, [ … ] 1592 ,→OCLC Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press,1973 ,→ISBN signature [B7], recto :Let vs put on our meet incountering mindes, / And in deteſting ſuch adiueliſh Thiefe, / In loue of honor and defence of right / Be arm’d againſt the hate of ſuch a foe, / Whether from earth, or hell, or heauen he grow.
Characteristic of adevil .adevilish grin
1532 Thomas More , “The Confutacion of[ William ] [ … ] i.e. ,William Rastell ], editor,The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, [ … ] , London: [ … ] Iohn Cawod , Iohn Waly, andRicharde Tottell , published30 April 1557 ,→OCLC page587 , columns1–2 :[S]ome turne agayne by grace frõ their deadly hereſies into yͤ life of faith, ⁊ ſome be ſo ſore nowſeled in the falſe hereſies, ⁊ in their obſtinate frowardneſſe take ſuch adeueliſhe delight, yͭ finally thei die therin as did Baifield, Bainã, ⁊ Tewkeſbury.
1816 1817 Mary Shelley ], chapter III, inFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. [ … ] [ … ] [ Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818,→OCLC pages43–44 :The wretch saw me destroy the creature on whose future existence he depended for happiness, and, with a howl ofdevilish despair and revenge, withdrew.
( informal ) Adevilish effort yielded adevilish success.
( resembling a devil ) : atrocious demoniac deuced diabolic evil fiendish ghoulish malicious mischievous nefarious ogreish reprobate unhallowed wicked ( characteristic of a devil ) : demonic diabolic diabolical hellish infernal satanic satanical ( extreme ) : excessive extreme resembling or characteristic of a devil
Belarusian:чарто́ўскі ( čartóŭski ) ,д'я́бальскі ( dʺjábalʹski ) ,сатані́нскі ( satanínski ) Bulgarian:дя́волски (bg) ( djávolski ) ,сатани́нски (bg) ( satanínski ) Catalan:diabòlic Chinese:Mandarin:惡魔 般 的 / 恶魔 般 的 ( èmóbān de ) Danish:djævelsk Dutch:duivels (nl) ,diabolisch (nl) ,satanisch (nl) French:diabolique (fr) German:teuflisch (de) Greek:διαβολικός (el) ( diavolikós ) Hebrew:שטני (he) m ( staní ) Hungarian:ördögi (hu) ,sátáni (hu) Italian:diabolico (it) Japanese:悪魔的 ( akumateki ) ,残忍 (ja) ( zannin ) Norwegian:djevelsk Old East Slavic:диꙗвольскꙑи ( dijavolĭskyi ) Plautdietsch:diewlisch Polish:diabelski (pl) m diaboliczny (pl) Portuguese:diabólico (pt) Quechua:millaymana Russian:дья́вольский (ru) ( dʹjávolʹskij ) ,чёртовый (ru) ( čórtovyj ) ,черто́вский (ru) ( čertóvskij ) ,сатани́нский (ru) ( satanínskij ) Serbo-Croatian:Cyrillic:ђаволаст враголаст Roman:đavolast (sh) ,vragolast (sh) Spanish:diabólico (es) Swedish:djävulsk (sv) ,diabolisk (sv) Ukrainian:чортя́чий ( čortjáčyj ) ,дия́вольський ( dyjávolʹsʹkyj ) ,сатани́нський ( satanýnsʹkyj )
extreme, excessive
Bulgarian:голям (bg) ( goljam ) ,страхотен (bg) ( strahoten ) Chinese:Mandarin:非常 (zh) ( fēicháng ) Dutch:deksels (nl) ,duivels (nl) ,verduiveld (nl) French:infernal (fr) ,diabolique (fr) German:teuflisch (de) Hungarian:pokoli (hu) ,állati (hu) Irish:diail Japanese:非常 (ja) ( hijō ) Portuguese:extremo (pt) Russian:черто́вский (ru) ( čertóvskij ) ,дья́вольский (ru) ( dʹjávolʹskij ) ,а́дский (ru) ( ádskij ) ,стра́шный (ru) ( strášnyj ) Swedish:djävlig (sv) ,jävlig (sv) ,djävulsk (sv)
Translations to be checked
devilish (comparative moredevilish ,superlative mostdevilish )
( informal , dated ) Devilishly ;very ;exceedingly .It wasdevilish hot outside today.
