1. [n]  morally objectionable behavior
2. [n]  the quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice; "attempts to explain the origin of evil in the world"
3. [n]  that which causes harm or destruction or misfortune; "the evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones"- Shakespeare
4. [adj]  having or exerting a malignant influence; "malevolent stars"; "a malefic force"
5. [adj]  tending to cause great harm
6. [adj]  morally bad or wrong; "evil purposes"; "an evil influence"; "evil deeds"
7. [adj]  having the nature of vice

Evil
Roy F. Baumeister, a social psychologist at Case Western Reserve University, investigates the social causes and possible solutions to the violence and cruelty exhibited in murder, rape, street crime, war, emotional abuse, wife beatings, racial and ethnic hatreds, and more. Baumeister`s study argues that evil derives not from mental cripples with low self-esteem, but from overly ambitious or idealistic individuals whose egotism renders them easily threatened by anyone who seems not to share their own high opinion of themselves.

more details ...

1. \E*vil\a. [OE. evel, evil, ifel, uvel, AS. yfel; akin to
   OFries, evel, D. euvel, OS. & OHG. ubil, G. ["u]bel, Goth.
   ubils, and perh. to E. over.]
   1. Having qualities tending to injury and mischief; having a
      nature or properties which tend to badness; mischievous;
      not good; worthless or deleterious; poor; as, an evil
      beast; and evil plant; an evil crop.
            A good tree can not bring forth evil fruit. --Matt.
                                                  vii. 18.
   2. Having or exhibiting bad moral qualities; morally corrupt;
      wicked; wrong; vicious; as, evil conduct, thoughts, heart,
      words, and the like.
            Ah, what a sign it is of evil life, When death's
            approach is seen so terrible.         --Shak.
   3. Producing or threatening sorrow, distress, injury, or
      calamity; unpropitious; calamitous; as, evil tidings; evil
      arrows; evil days.
            Because he hath brought up an evil name upon a
            virgin of Israel.                     --Deut. xxii.
                                                  19.
            The owl shrieked at thy birth -- an evil sign.
                                                  --Shak.
            Evil news rides post, while good news baits.
                                                  --Milton.
   {Evil eye}, an eye which inflicts injury by some magical or
      fascinating influence. It is still believed by the
      ignorant and superstitious that some persons have the
      supernatural power of injuring by a look.
            It almost led him to believe in the evil eye. --J.
                                                  H. Newman.
   {Evil speaking}, speaking ill of others; calumny;
      censoriousness.
   {The evil one}, the Devil; Satan.
   Note: Evil is sometimes written as the first part of a
         compound (with or without a hyphen). In many cases the
         compounding need not be insisted on. Examples: Evil
         doer or evildoer, evil speaking or evil-speaking, evil
         worker, evil wishing, evil-hearted, evil-minded.
   Syn: Mischieveous; pernicious; injurious; hurtful;
        destructive; wicked; sinful; bad; corrupt; perverse;
        wrong; vicious; calamitous.
   

2. \E"vil\ ([=e]"v'l) n.
   1. 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; -- opposed to {good}.
            Evils which our own misdeeds have wrought. --Milton.
            The evil that men do lives after them. --Shak.
   2. Moral badness, or the deviation of a moral being from the
      principles of virtue imposed by conscience, or by the will
      of the Supreme Being, or by the principles of a lawful
      human authority; disposition to do wrong; moral offence;
      wickedness; depravity.
            The heart of the sons of men is full of evil.
                                                  --Eccl. ix. 3.
   3. malady or disease; especially in the phrase king's evil,
      the scrofula. [R.] --Shak.
            He [Edward the Confessor] was the first that touched
            for the evil.                         --Addison.
   

3. \E"vil\, adv.
   In an evil manner; not well; ill; badly; unhappily;
   injuriously; unkindly. --Shak.
         It went evil with his house.             --1 Chron.
                                                  vii. 23.
         The Egyptians evil entreated us, and affected us.
                                                  --Deut. xxvi.
                                                  6.
   

As used by a hacker, implies that some system, program, person, or institution is sufficiently maldesigned as to be not worth the bother of dealing with. Unlike the adjectives in the cretinous, losing, brain-damaged series, "evil" does not imply incompetence or bad design, but rather a set of goals or design criteria fatally incompatible with the speaker's. This usage is more an aesthetic and engineering judgment than a moral one in the mainstream sense. "We thought about adding a Blue Glue interface but decided it was too evil to deal with." "TECO is neat, but it can be pretty evil if you're prone to typos." Often pronounced with the first syllable lengthened, as /eeee'vil/.

Compare evil and rude.

[Jargon File]