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Mad vs Evil - What's the difference?

mad | evil |

As adjectives the difference between mad and evil

is that mad is insane; crazy, mentally deranged while evil is intending to harm; malevolent.

As an adverb mad

is intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.

As a verb mad

is to madden, to anger, to frustrate.

As an acronym MAD

is mutually assured destruction.

As a noun evil is

moral badness; wickedness; malevolence; the forces or behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good.

mad

English

Adjective

(madder)
  • Insane; crazy, mentally deranged.
  • * Shakespeare
    • I have heard my grandsire say full oft, / Extremity of griefs would make men mad .
  • Angry, annoyed.
  • * , chapter=6
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=She was so mad she wouldn't speak to me for quite a spell, but at last I coaxed her into going up to Miss Emmeline's room and fetching down a tintype of the missing Deacon man.}}
  • Wildly confused or excited.
    • to be mad with terror, lust, or hatred
  • * Bible, Jer. 1. 88
    • It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.
  • * 1787: The Fair Syrian, R. Bage, p.314
    • My brother, quiet as a cat, seems perfectly contented with the internal feelings of his felicity. The Marquis, mad as a kitten, is all in motion to express it, from tongue to heel.
  • Extremely foolish or unwise; irrational; imprudent.
  • Extremely enthusiastic about; crazy about; infatuated with; overcome with desire for.
  • (of animals) Abnormally ferocious or furious; or, rabid, affected with rabies.
  • (slang, chiefly Northeastern US) Intensifier, signifies an abundance or high quality of a thing; , much or many.
  • (of a compass needle) Having impaired polarity.

    • Usage notes

    While within the United States and Canada, the word mad'' ''does'' generally imply ''anger'' rather than insanity, such usage is still considered informal. Furthermore, if one is described as having "gone mad" or "went mad", this will unquestionably be taken as denoting ''insanity''''', and not anger. Meanwhile, if one "is mad at" something or has "been mad about" something, it will be assumed that they are '''''angered'' rather than insane. In addition, if the word is understood as being used literally, it will most likely be taken as meaning "insane". Also, in addition to the former, such derivatives as "madness", "madman", "madhouse" and "madly" ''purely denote insanity, irrespective of whether one is in the Commonwealth or in the United States. Lastly, within Commonwealth countries other than Canada, mad'' typically implies the ''insane'' or ''crazy'' sense more so than the ''angry sense.

    Synonyms

    * (insane) See also * (angry) See also * wicked, mighty, kinda, , hella.

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (slang, New England, New York, and, UK, dialect) Intensifier; to a large degree; extremely; exceedingly; very; unbelievably.
    • He was driving mad slow.
    It's mad hot today.
    He seems mad keen on her.

    Synonyms

    * hella; helluv;

    Derived terms

    * mad as a hatter * madden * madding * madhouse * madly

    Verb

    (madd)
  • To madden, to anger, to frustrate.
  • * c''. 1595 , (William Shakespeare), '' , Act V Scene 5:
    • This musick mads me, let it sound no more.
  • *, I.2.4.iv:
    • He that mads others, if he were so humoured, would be as mad himself, as much grieved and tormented […].

    Anagrams

    * * * * English degree adverbs English intensifiers English three-letter words ----

    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

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    Anagrams

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