Nefarious (pronounced ni-fair-ee-uhs)
Extremely
evil, wicked or villainous; iniquitous; sinful.
1595–1605: From the Latin nefārius (wicked, vile; execrable; abominable), the construct being nefās (something contrary to divine law, an impious deed, sin, crime) + -ius or –ious (the suffix from the Old Latin -ios, from the primitive Indo-European –yós and used to form adjectives from nouns. The Middle English suffix –ous was borrowed from the Old French -ous & -eux, from the Latin -ōsus (full, full of); a doublet of -ose in the unstressed position). The construct of nefās was ne- (the negative prefix) + fās (law, right). Nefarious is an adjective, nefariously is an adverb and nefariousness is a noun.
Crooked Hillary Clinton & Harvey Weinstein, Lincoln Centre, New York, April 2012.
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