What's the difference between nemesis and villain?

Nemesis


Definition:

  • (n.) The goddess of retribution or vengeance; hence, retributive justice personified; divine vengeance.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the authoritarian, neo-Islamist president – and Davutoğlu’s political nemesis – has a less positive view of the EU.
  • (2) When Philip Roth accepted the biennial International Booker prize honouring some 60 years of his fiction, from Goodbye, Columbus to Nemesis , he sat at a wooden table in the studio adjoining his airy Connecticut retreat looking as much like a retired priest, or judge, as the Grand Old Man of American letters, pushing 79.
  • (3) The Labour MP Frank Field , chair of the work and pensions committee, whose role in the MPs’ inquiry into the collapse of BHS has put him into the role of Green’s nemesis, said the businessman appeared willing to lose his reputation rather than “surrender a modest part of his mega-fortune” to aid BHS pensioners.
  • (4) We loathe each other," is the latest from his nemesis on that.)
  • (5) In a wide-ranging interview, he discussed the mining crisis, his nemesis, Julius Malema , gay rights in Africa and that painting.
  • (6) Perhaps the ugliest was for MI6 to deliver a whole family to one of the world’s most brutal dictators.” Sapna Malik, of Leigh Day, the law firm representing the families, said: “The sheer terror experienced by the Saadi family when they were bundled on to their rendition flight and delivered up to their nemesis clearly lives with them all to this day.
  • (7) This week, the supreme court limited Cunha’s powers, and government supporters claim their nemesis is now a fatally weakened figure.
  • (8) The showrunner Steven Moffat said there was a "clue everybody's missed" after Holmes's standoff with his nemesis, Moriarty.
  • (9) The current president, Benigno Aquino , is the only son and namesake of the late strongman’s political nemesis, whose assassination in 1983 led to the popular uprising three years later.
  • (10) They visit the homes of Walter and Jesse, the fast-food restaurant of Walter's nemesis Gus Fring, and the carwash where Walter's wife Skyler launders their money.
  • (11) So begins the final shootout between Pendleton and her one-time nemesis Anna Meares of Australia, usually unfairly billed as the Bad to Pendleton's Good, (the role of the Ugly would be played by the UCI commissaires).
  • (12) Premier League full-backs have been a nemesis for Lionel Messi but he did rather well here even before he notched the second goal.
  • (13) On February 9, in Florida, Burge was confronted once again by his old legal nemesis, attorney Flint Taylor, for a deposition in one of the sprawling torture cases his police legacy spawned.
  • (14) The London mayor, Boris Johnson , is to star as an Indiana Jones-style adventurer battling villains such as his nemesis, Dr Livingstone, in a comic strip distributed with the latest edition of Time Out magazine.
  • (15) When he ousted Enrico Letta from power in February in a party rebellion, the then mayor of Florence and recently elected head of the PD faced a barrage of criticism from those who found it jarring that a politician who had always styled himself as the nemesis of the political old guard took power in what they saw as a straightforward coup.
  • (16) In less than a year, president Hassan Rouhani must seek re-election, and his nemesis – the former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – is watching him closely, readying himself for a challenge.
  • (17) By the time the dust finally settled in Virginia's primary election earthquake just 7,212 votes separated the House majority leader, Eric Cantor, from his Tea Party nemesis, David Brat.
  • (18) A graduate in engineering from the École Centrale in Paris 20 years ago, Iksil had become so well known in the opaque $10tn market for credit default swaps – a complex type of insurance product – that he was nicknamed the "London Whale" and also known as Voldemort, after Harry Potter's nemesis.
  • (19) Her nemesis on the select committee Tom Watson wrote, "You're a remarkable character, Louise.
  • (20) Ferré arrived and I accidentally called him by the name of his nemesis – Karl Lagerfeld.

Villain


Definition:

  • (n.) One who holds lands by a base, or servile, tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest class, a bondman or servant.
  • (n.) A baseborn or clownish person; a boor.
  • (n.) A vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel; a knave; a rascal; a scamp.
  • (a.) Villainous.
  • (v. t.) To debase; to degrade.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But I know the full story and it’s a bit different from what people see.” The full story is heavy on the extremes of emotion and as the man who took a stricken but much-loved club away from its community, Winkelman knows that his part is that of villain; the war of words will rumble on.
  • (2) They’re not moustache-twirling villains that are going, “ah ha ha that’s great”, they’re going: “You’re right.
  • (3) Society needs a villain and right now we’re convenient.” “ I will carefully admit there has been an awful lot of almonds planted that maybe shouldn’t have been because outside money came in and wanted to plant,” he says.
  • (4) Reith, “his dour handsome face scarred like that of a villain in a melodrama”, was “a strange shepherd for such a mixed, bohemian flock … he had under his aegis a bevy of ex-soldiers, ex-actors, ex-adventurers which … even a Dartmoor prison governor might have had difficulty in controlling”.
  • (5) The success of Capote paved the way for bigger and more nuanced parts for Hoffman, his turn as the villain in Mission: Impossible III (2006) notwithstanding.
  • (6) Maleficent, Disney's latest film out on 28 May, offers the untold back story of the villain from the 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty, with Jolie in the title role.
  • (7) When I was nine or 10 I leapt directly from Doctor Dolittle to Dr No, leaving behind all those stupid talking animals and free-falling into a far naughtier realm of suavely promiscuous government assassins, hot shell-diving beauties and villains with metal hands and messianic plans for humanity.
  • (8) And that’s what we do in drama and comedy: we create our own heroes and villains, so no one really gets hurt.
  • (9) You're a devious villain conducting the perfect crime, like the dashing guest star in the opening scene of a classic Columbo.
  • (10) These villains have limited aspirations, and the man in the white hat has a limited arsenal of era-appropriate weaponry: a gun, a bow and arrow, a few grenades, maybe even a tank.
  • (11) The people shaping the news require a very simple story – they have to be angels and villains.” John Stoltenberg is a gay-rights activist who lived with the feminist writer Andrea Dworkin until her death in 2005.
  • (12) We are not the villains you paint us on your trollblogs.
  • (13) For the real villain – look behind Obama, to the Republican party.
  • (14) It is, according to environmentalist and MP Zac Goldsmith, the most dramatic turnaround of any global green villain ever seen and an encouraging sign that huge environmental challenges can be tackled.
  • (15) As Paltrow explains: “So-called pro-life measures are being used in ways that not only violate women’s reproductive rights, but create the basis for depriving them of their constitutional personhood and human rights.” While it may be easy to cast women who drink in pregnancy as villains, criminalising them does no one any favours, save for those with a broader anti-women agenda.
  • (16) Fleming was intrigued by Engelhard's extravagant lifestyle and when he wrote Goldfinger , published in 1959, he based its eponymous villain on him.
  • (17) In the Kenzie and Gennaro series, like all good detective fiction, the city is as sharp and unpredictable as the villains themselves.
  • (18) Why swapping heroes for heroines is a Top Dollar idea Read more The potential gender-swap casting comes after Britain’s Andrea Riseborough was named earlier this month as a frontrunner to play the villain Top Dollar in a high-profile upcoming remake of cult comic book movie The Crow.
  • (19) Mohammed al-Sabban Senior economic adviser, Saudi Arabia Moustachioed high-up in his country's ministry of petroleum and mineral resources, leader of the Saudi Arabian negotiating team, and a reasonable bet for Copenhagen's most likely villain.
  • (20) For one thing, villains always believe they are exceptional.