pantomime villain

UK/ˈpæn.təˌmʌɪm ˈvɪl.jən/

pantomime villain noun: a person who has become a designated villain, often seen as cartoonishly villainous; someone people "love to hate".

Noun

pantomime villain (countable and uncountable, plural pantomime villains)

(UK, figuratively) A person who has become a designated villain, often seen as cartoonishly villainous; someone people "love to hate".
- The pantomime villain of British politics has exited stage right - leaving for a third and presumably final time, with the crowd booing. [...] From the moment of his appointment, Sir Gavin's third act in government irritated colleagues. After a divisive tenure as chief whip, difficult time as...9 November 2022, Sam Coates, “Gavin Williamson's departure is about more than just the messages”, in Sky News
- The 'pantomime villain' he was labelled by the BBC commentary team, Abrial collected his medal [...] to a chorus of boos from those inside the Manchester Centre.19 November 2022, Callum Walker, “Referee causes controversy in Wheelchair World Cup Final with bizarre actions as England defeat France”, in Rugby League World
(UK) A character archetype in pantomime entertainment.
- In contrast, the best of the Pantomime villains are even entitled to misbehave, overact, and be disdainful of the audience.2020 February 3, “The Best of the Pantomime Villains”, in Blackpool Grand Theatre

The news will likely please many, as Mateu Lahoz has become something of a pantomime villain over the festive period.5 January 2023, “Referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz put 'in the fridge' for card-happy performances”, in OneFootball:
Pantomime villain [...] We all have those rugby players that just we dislike for whatever reason.2023 February 10, “Every home nations most hated player by rival fans in the Six Nations”, in RUCK:
With Owen Farrell returning to the England XV this weekend, who are rugby's greatest "pantomime villains" in world rugby.2023 March 16, “Fans Rank Rugby's Top 5 Pantomime Villains”, in RUCK:
He's riled two opposition fanbases, added a new dimension to the Premier League title race, and emerged as the Blues' unlikely pantomime villain going into the last two months of the campaign.30 March 2023, Joe Bray, “Rodri has become Man City's unlikely pantomime villain”, in Manchester Evening News:

plural	pantomime villains

What does pantomime villain mean?: Pantomime villain means a person who has become a designated villain, often seen as cartoonishly villainous; someone people "love to hate".
How do you use pantomime villain in a sentence?: The news will likely please many, as Mateu Lahoz has become something of a pantomime villain over the festive period.
What part of speech is pantomime villain?: Pantomime villain is a noun.
How do you pronounce pantomime villain?: Pantomime villain is pronounced /ˈpæn.təˌmʌɪm ˈvɪl.jən/ (UK).
What is the plural of pantomime villain?: The plural of pantomime villain is pantomime villains.

Adapted from Wiktionary: pantomime villain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “pantomime villain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pantomime_villain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.