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Nefarious vs Deviant - What's the difference?

nefarious | deviant |

As adjectives the difference between nefarious and deviant

is that nefarious is sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics while deviant is deviant.

nefarious

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Sinful, villainous, criminal, or wicked, especially when noteworthy or notorious for such characteristics.
  • * 1828 , , The Red Rover , ch. 2:
    • "If the vessel be no fair-trading slaver, nor a common cruiser of his Majesty, it is as tangible as the best man's reasoning, that she may be neither more nor less than the ship of that nefarious pirate the Red Rover."
  • * 1877 , , The Life of Cicero , ch. 9:
    • Mommsen . . . declares that Catiline in particular was "one of the most nefarious' men in that ' nefarious age. His villanies belong to the criminal records, not to history."
  • * 1921 , , The Indiscretions of Archie , ch. 26:
    • The fact that the room was still in darkness made it obvious that something nefarious was afoot. Plainly there was dirty work in preparation at the cross-roads.
  • * 2009 Oct. 14, Monica Davey, " Fact Checker Finds Falsehoods in Remarks," New York Times (retrieved 12 May 2014):
    • “I try to let everyone back here in Minnesota know exactly the nefarious activities that are taking place in Washington.”

    Usage notes

    * Commonly used in contexts involving villainous plans, conspiracies, or actions, as in: :* 1909 , , The Lady of the Shroud , book 7: ::: The whole nefarious scheme was one of the "put-up jobs" which are part of the dirty work of a certain order of statecraft.

    Synonyms

    * evil, iniquitous, sinister, underhanded, vile * See also

    Derived terms

    * nefariously * nefariousness

    References

    *

    deviant

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Of or pertaining to a deviation; characterized by deviation from an expectation or a social standard.
    • At the trial, the extent of his deviant behavior became clear.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A person who deviates, especially from norms of social behavior.
    • He was branded as a deviant and ostracized.
  • A thing, phenomenon, or trend that deviates from an expectation or pattern.
    • As the graph shows, the March sales trend is the deviant .

    See also

    (defiant)

    References

    * Random House Webster’s Unabridged Electronic Dictionary , 1987-1996. ----