ETYM Old Eng. evel, evil, ifel, uvel, as. yfel; akin to OFries, evel, Dutch euvel, os. and Old High Germ. ubil, German übel, Goth. ubils, and perh. to Eng. over.
1. Morally bad or wrong; SYN. wicked.
2. Tending to cause great harm; SYN. harmful, injurious.

1. Morally objectionable behavior; SYN. immorality, wickedness, iniquity.
2. That which causes harm or destruction or misfortune
3. The quality of being morally wrong in principle or practice; SYN. evilness.
What is bad for, or harmful to, human beings or animals. Evil is traditionally divided into moral and natural evil. Moral evil originates in human action, whereas natural evil originates independently of human action—for instance, earthquakes or epidemics. The problem of evil is the difficulty of explaining the existence of evil if the world was created by a perfect and omnipotent God.
Evil can also be seen as illusory or real; and, when real, evil can be either a positive thing (the position of Manichaeism) or a negative thing— the absence of goodness, just as darkness is the absence of light (the position of St Augustine of Hippo).