nefarious

C2+ Topic:Crime & Justice

US /nəˈfɛriəs/ UK /nɪˈfɛəriəs/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
wicked or criminal in the extreme

The detective uncovered a nefarious scheme to defraud pensioners.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · wicked or criminal in the... wicked villainous heinous iniquitous evil infamous vile atrocious

Opposites

virtuous righteous honorable noble benevolent

Word family

Derived forms nefariouslynefariousness

Etymology

From Latin nefarius ('wicked, abominable'), from nefas ('crime, transgression, that which is contrary to divine law'), from ne- ('not') plus fas ('divine law, that which is right').

nefarius Latin fas Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Crime & Justice Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# nefarious

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /nəˈfɛriəs/
**IPA (UK):** /nɪˈfɛəriəs/

## Meanings
1. wicked or criminal in the extreme

## Examples
- The detective uncovered a nefarious scheme to defraud pensioners.

## Synonyms
- wicked
- villainous
- heinous
- iniquitous
- evil
- infamous
- vile
- atrocious

## Antonyms
- virtuous
- righteous
- honorable
- noble
- benevolent

## Derived Forms
- nefariously
- nefariousness

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: nefarius
- Root: fas

## Etymology
From Latin nefarius ('wicked, abominable'), from nefas ('crime, transgression, that which is contrary to divine law'), from ne- ('not') plus fas ('divine law, that which is right').

## AI Etymology
Nefarious comes from Latin nefarius ('wicked, abominable'), from nefas ('crime, transgression, that which is contrary to divine law'), from ne- ('not') plus fas ('divine law, that which is right'). The etymological trail includes Latin nefarius, Latin fas. The same word family includes nefariously, nefariousness. Its current adjective use means "wicked or criminal in the extreme".

## Topics
- Crime & Justice
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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