What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Woe vs Evil - What's the difference?

woe | evil | Related terms |

In obsolete terms the difference between woe and evil

is that woe is woeful; sorrowful while evil is a malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil (scrofula).

woe

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • grief; sorrow; misery; heavy calamity.
  • * Milton
    • Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, / Sad instrument of all our woe , she took.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • [They] weep each other's woe .
  • A curse; a malediction.
  • * South
    • Can there be a woe or curse in all the stores of vengeance equal to the malignity of such a practice?

    Derived terms

    * in weal or woe * woeful * woe is me

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • (obsolete) woeful; sorrowful
  • * Robert of Brunne
    • His clerk was woe to do that deed.
  • * Chaucer
    • Woe was this knight and sorrowfully he sighed.
  • * Spenser
    • And looking up he waxed wondrous woe .

    Anagrams

    *

    evil

    English

    Adjective

  • Intending to harm; malevolent.
    • Do you think that companies that engage in animal testing are evil ?
  • Morally corrupt.
    • an evil plot to kill innocent people
  • * Shakespeare
    • Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, / When death's approach is seen so terrible.
  • Unpleasant. (rfex)
  • Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or calamity; unpropitious; calamitous.
  • * Bible, Deuteronomy xxii. 19
    • He hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel.
  • * Shakespeare
    • The owl shrieked at thy birth — an evil sign.
  • * Milton
    • Evil news rides post, while good news baits.
  • (obsolete) Having harmful qualities; not good; worthless or deleterious.
    • an evil''' beast; an '''evil''' plant; an '''evil crop
  • * Bible, Matthew vii. 18
    • A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.
  • (computing, programming, slang) undesirable; harmful; bad practice
    • Global variables are evil ; storing processing context in object member variables allows those objects to be reused in a much more flexible way.

    Synonyms

    * nefarious * malicious * malevolent * See also

    Antonyms

    * good

    Derived terms

    * evil eye * evil laugh * evil laughter * evilly * evil-minded * Evil One * evil twin * evilness

    Noun

    (wikipedia evil)
  • Moral badness; wickedness; malevolence; the forces or behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good.
  • * Bible, (Ecclesiastes). ix. 3
    • The heart of the sons of men is full of evil .
  • * , chapter=16
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The preposterous altruism too!
  • Anything which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; anything which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; injury; mischief; harm.
  • * (John Milton)
    • evils which our own misdeeds have wrought
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • The evil that men do lives after them.
  • (obsolete) A malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil (scrofula).
  • * (Shakespeare)
  • * Addison
    • He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched for the evil .

    Antonyms

    * good

    Derived terms

    * axis of evil * evildoer * king's evil * lesser evil * necessary evil * poll evil

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    *