The Collaborative International Dictionary
Diabolic \Di`a*bol"ic\, Diabolical \Di`a*bol"ic*al\, a. [L. diabolicus, Gr. ? devilish, slanderous: cf. F. diabolique. See Devil.]
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Pertaining to the devil; resembling, or appropriate, or appropriate to, the devil; befitting hell or satan; devilish; infernal; impious; as, a diabolic or diabolical temper or act; the diabolical expression on his face; fires lit up a diabolic scene. ``Diabolic power.''
--Milton. ``The diabolical institution.''
--Motley.Syn: devilish, mephistophelian, mephistophelean.
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showing a wicked cunning or ingenuity; as, the cold calculation and diabolic art of some statesmen.
Syn: devilish, mephistophelian, mephistophelean.
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extremely evil or cruel; atrocious; outrageously wicked; as, diabolical sorcerers under the influence of devils; diabolical torturers taking pleasure in their craft.
Syn: demonic, fiendish, hellish, infernal, nefarious, satanic. [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5] -- Di`a*bol"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Di`a*bol"ic*al*ness, n.
Wiktionary
n. The state or quality of being diabolical.
Usage examples of "diabolicalness".
Further than this, these arrivals, by their evident unfitness for any allowable mortal use, and inferential diabolicalness, filled the neighbourhood with a vague horror and lively curiosity, which were greatly augmented by the extraordinary phenomena, and still more extraordinary accounts thereof, that followed their reception in the Manse.
Now he realized that he had not grasped the full diabolicalness of this device.