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🇩🇪German Source WordCode: DE

Bösewicht

Pronunciation / Transliteration: /ˈbøːzəvɪçt/

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Badman/ˈbæd.mæn/
nounCEFR C1 (Advanced)Top #15400 frequency
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🇩🇪 Example Sentence in German:

"Der Film handelt von einem gefürchteten Bösewicht."

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A tough, dangerous, or criminal individual, especially one who operates outside the law or commands fear and respect in a street environment.

    "The local gang leader was widely feared and known throughout the neighborhood as a dangerous badman."
  2. 2

    In Caribbean and urban youth culture, a person who displays extreme confidence, style, or toughness.

    "He walked into the room acting like a total badman, showing off his new designer clothes."
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Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived as a compound of the English adjectives and nouns 'bad' and 'man', evolving from its literal 19th-century American Old West usage denoting an outlaw or desperado. In contemporary multicultural and Caribbean English, particularly within Jamaican Patois, it has undergone semantic shifting to denote a formidable, tough, or criminal individual who commands street respect.

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