knave

noun

ˈnāv How to pronounce knave (audio)
Definition of knavenext
as in villain
a mean, evil, or unprincipled person he plays the role of the duplicitous knave who tries to foil the play's hero

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of knave The knights who always told the truth and the knaves who always lied. — Quanta Magazine, 20 Aug. 2026 Try for yourselves, ye witless knaves— Take each to bed your Sally! — Ann Manov, Harpers Magazine, 23 June 2026 Many a knave is rich, sleek, and honored, while the just man is poor, hated, and in torment. — Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 18 June 2026 Human beings are motivated by virtue (knights) or rigid self-interest (knaves), or are passive victims of their circumstances (pawns). — Sachin H. Jain, Forbes, 20 Dec. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for knave
  1. villain
  2. brute
  3. devil
  4. monster
  5. savage
  6. scoundrel
Noun
  • Hailing from London as the son of hardscrabble fruit sellers, Winstone was often asked to channel his rough-and-tumble upbringing and pre-acting career as a boxer into mobster and villain roles.
    — Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 31 Aug. 2026
  • Standing in his way is a mysterious villain intent on his destruction.
    — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 28 Aug. 2026
Definition of villain
Noun
  • Most sportsmen wonder how any whitetail bucks, let alone a brute such as Kontras’, could have been so easily patterned.
    — Jeff Murray, Outdoor Life, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The show’s depiction of Hugh as a family man has been much more sympathetic than the book’s description of him as a power-hungry brute.
    — James Grebey, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of brute
Noun
  • In January, Watts was a guest on actor Rainn Wilson’s podcast, where Watts played devil’s advocate to Wilson’s skeptic about casual use of mind-altering substances.
    — Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Throughout the movie, two mentors stand over each of his shoulders like an aproned angel and devil.
    — Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of devil
Noun
  • Hugh Jackman plays the titular monster hunter, who is sent to destroy Dracula.
    — Kara Nesvig, Parents, 29 Aug. 2026
  • There will be no B-movie monsters wearing terrible prosthetics, no scripts full of non sequiturs, no glitchy graphics.
    — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2026
Definition of monster
Noun
  • Manson and his followers evaded police for months but were eventually arrested and charged in the savage slayings in December 1969.
    — Lynsey Eidell, PEOPLE, 15 Aug. 2026
  • For all its characteristic restraint and formal diligence, Killing Spree is a book that wants to make noise, to cut through the dead air with cries of grief and rage, undoing our own savage torpor.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of savage
Noun
  • Hawks is the grounding force of Zero Company, the down-to-Earth scoundrel that keeps everyone humble.
    — Hayes Madsen, Space.com, 26 Aug. 2026
  • That range runs from scoundrels to astromechs, and a Jedi is on the table too.
    — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2026
Definition of scoundrel

Browse Nearby Words

knapsacks
knave
knaveries
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Knave.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/knave. Accessed 1 Sep. 2026.

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