Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use devilish in a sentence

14 example sentences · adjective, adverb

Devilish means resembling a devil. Example: “A devilish effort yielded a devilish success.”

Examples of devilish by meaning

adjectiveRoguish or mischievous.

  • a devilish grin

adjectiveExcessive, extreme.

  • A devilish effort yielded a devilish success.
  • I had a devilish time moving the wardrobe downstairs.

adverbDevilishly; very; exceedingly.

  • It was devilish hot outside today.
  • Only I wish it had gone the other way for it's devilish awkward for me as it happens.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
  • She was bossy and proud, a dreadful sag of skin and bones, and she was a devilish hard worker.1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, A Man Called Horse; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 173

More sentences with devilish

  • "I was a wild child," she said, sounding devilish, "never did get tamed.2005, Joan Anderson, A Walk on the Beach: Tales Of Wisdom From An Unconventional Woman. From the entry wild child
  • For the past few hundred years, Americans have considered chocolate more devilish than divine.[2004 December 20, Joe and Teresa Graedon, “Chocolate: How sweet, and healthy, it can be for the body”, in Evansville Courier & Press…. From the entry devil's-food cake
  • None of this bothered the jBoat sailors, whose nimble craft challenged devilish winds and currents.2003 08, Sabra Morgan, The Majesty of Trees, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 104. From the entry broody
  • The devilish host chorused a paean of victory as they swarmed back.1982–1984, Wu Cheng’en, “When the Heart Spirit Stays in the Home the Demons Submit; the Mother of Wood Helps Bring Monsters to the Truth”…. From the entry chorus
  • These royalists are good swordsmen, and the Englishman is devilish cunning, and looks very powerful.1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], The Scarlet Pimpernel, popular edition, London: Greening & Co., published 20 March…. From the entry hors de combat
  • In truth, he'd passed me by with a devilish grin on his face and a look of challenging one-up-manship.2006, Ken Ewell, Traveling with Philosophes, →ISBN, page 479. From the entry one-up-manship
  • Yes, it's a 'sometimes food' and when executed properly it will bring on a devilish cheeky grin that ought to be reserved for other naughtiness.2017, Scott Hallsworth, Junk Food Japan: Addictive Food from Kurobuta, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 74. From the entry sometimes food
  • Douglas steams and stammers, a typical film noir heel, while Stone delivers her dialogue with the devilish gleam of a sly actor having a great time.2022 March 20, Jason Bailey, “‘Basic Instinct’ at 30: A Time Capsule That Can Still Offend”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry heel

Meaning of devilish

  1. adjective Resembling a devil.
  2. adjective Evil, wicked.
  3. adjective Roguish or mischievous.

Full definition of devilish

Questions about devilish in a sentence

How do you use devilish in a sentence?
Devilish is used as an adjective and adverb. For example: “A devilish effort yielded a devilish success.”
What is a short sentence with devilish?
“a devilish grin”
What does devilish mean?
Devilish means resembling a devil.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: devilish (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use devilish in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/devilish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.