How do you use the word "wicked" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "wicked" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "wicked": Punish the wicked and save the weak. The wicked witch cast a spell on the man and turned him into a bug.

Wicked Meaning

/ˈwɪk.ɪd/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

adjEvil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible.

adjHarsh; severe.

Sentence Examples

Punish the wicked and save the weak.

The wicked witch cast a spell on the man and turned him into a bug.

It is wicked of you to do such things.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

evil heavy terrible

Antonyms:

righteous virtuous

CEFR Practice Quiz

In the fairy tale, the ____ witch cast a spell to turn the prince into a frog.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

In the story, the ____ witch tries to cast a spell on the beautiful princess and several lock her in a dark tower today.

Word Origin & History

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.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bolde as a lyon." — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 28:1:

"“Yes,” replied she; “and the saddest part of it all is that she is not marrying the man she loves. Oh, it is terrible. Marrying from a sense of duty! I think it is perfectly wicked, and I told her so.”" — 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 101:

"‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”.[…]’." — 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

"What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way / What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you / What a wicked thing to say, you never felt this way" — 1989, Chris Isaak, “Wicked Game”, in Heart Shaped World:

"The Artemis II astronauts sent back descriptions of the total solar eclipse they viewed from space to NASA's Mission Control. "It’s truly hard to describe. It is amazing," pilot Victor Glover said. Glover said that the Orion spacecraft was made as dark as possible due to every bit of light in the cabin affecting the view. "It’s a wicked view," he said of the darkened moon with deep space behind it." — 2026 April 6, Mary Kekatos, Julia Jacobo, Leah Sarnoff, Ivan Pereira, quoting Victor Glover, “'Absolutely spectacular, surreal': Astronauts describe solar eclipse”, in ABC News, retrieved 06 Apr 2026:

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