Advertisement
Advertisement
villain of the piece, the
Idioms and Phrases
The person to blame for what is bad or wrong, as in I'm afraid the caterer is the villain of the piece—the food wasn't ready for hours . The piece in this term alludes to a play in which the villain is the character whose evildoing is important to the plot. [Mid-1800s]Example Sentences
Sununu, whose son Chris currently serves as governor and whose son Michael is one of the state’s more vocal climate change skeptics, emerges as the villain of the piece, the man who almost single-handedly thwarted the first major international effort to limit carbon dioxide emissions.
But George Bailey’s heroism stemmed from his resistance to the real villain of the piece—the money-grubbing Mr Potter.
This fact leads straight to the guiltiest villain of the piece, the American consumer of illegal drugs, without whom there would be no $250 billion drug traffic, the general writes in Military Times, reprising what he had earlier told Congress.
The villain of the piece, the lowlife Jigger Craigin, is a brutal thug, but in the jovial person of Tally Sessions, he comes off as more of a genial lug, so it’s easier to understand why Billy considers him good company.
Indeed, the hashtag #goleiraeualinda, or "beautiful American goalie" was the No1 topic on Twitter in Brazil at the time and, although Journo did note that Daiane Menezes Rodrigues, who scored an own goal and missed a penalty, may be the villain of the piece, the fans had already adopted a new hero.
Advertisement
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse