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Definition
evil; very bad; or cruel and clever (like something of the devil)More rarely (and then in British English), diabolical can mean very bad — as in "The traffic was diabolical."
- As part of her diabolical plan, she spent the first year gaining their trust.
diabolical = evil and clever
- She seems to have a diabolic power over him.
- She was frightened by the diabolical expression on his face.
- She wanted to learn of the cold calculations and diabolic arts of the worst politicians.
- It gave me almost a turn to see again one of the letters which I had seen on the Count's table before I knew of his diabolical plans.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence.Arthur Miller -- The Crucible
- He was a kind of elemental force, a primitive scourge and a raw challenge that summoned diabolic violence from every horse he rode.Hal Borland -- When the Legends Die
- He smiled, such a soft, smooth, diabolical smile that I knew there was some trick behind his smoothness.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- When I'd first started playing Truth, back in my slumber party days, it had always made me nervous. Wes was right in saying it was diabolical: the questions asked were always personal or embarrassing, preferably both.Sarah Dessen -- The Truth About Forever
- All this without that diabolic aid which is surely to him. For it have to yield to the powers that come from, and are, symbolic of good.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- The blow was a powerful one; only the diabolical quickness of the Count's leap back saved him.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- Besides, he called the Count 'lord and master', and he may want to get out to help him in some diabolical way.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- There was a diabolical wickedness in the idea great enough for the Count, and as the last chance I cried out, "Shut the door!"Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- The north and west were surely never meant to be left out of his diabolical scheme, let alone the City itself and the very heart of fashionable London in the south-west and west.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- There was something diabolically sweet in her tones, something of the tinkling of glass when struck, which rang through the brains even of us who heard the words addressed to another.Bram Stoker -- Dracula
- Her smile was diabolical, and I grinned with her.Kiera Cass -- The Elite
- This was, like, a seventeen on a diabolical scale of one to ten.James Patterson -- School's Out - Forever
- Who but the chosen one could have survived that diabolical explosion?Dan Brown -- Angels & Demons
- He had to make Woref believe that he was playing his diabolical game.Ted Dekker -- White: The Great Pursuit
- At any rate, the man, my diabolically distorted double, had his wolf marvelously broken.Hermann Hesse -- Steppenwolf
diabolic = evil
diabolical = evil
diabolic = evil and clever
diabolical = evil (and perhaps clever)
diabolical = evil
diabolic = devilish
diabolical = evil (and perhaps clever)
diabolical = cruel and clever
diabolic = evil
diabolical = evil
diabolical = evil
diabolical = evil
diabolical = evil