Meanings
present singular third person villainsplains · participle present villainsplaining · participle past villainsplained · past villainsplained
- informalOf a villain in a fictional work, to explain the details of one's evil plans or actions, or the motivations that drive them.
Are you done villainsplaining?
2019 April 5, Steven Katz, “In the Woods”, in Kate Dennis, director, The Tick, season 2, episode 9, spoken by Overkill (Scott Speiser)1 more example
There’s a moment when John Sill gazes at the “Mona Lisa,” which he has stolen from the Louvre. The painting, he villainsplains to Kitu, is artistically unimpressive but nevertheless “a work of genius. Marketing genius.”
2022 November 1, Molly Young, “In a New Novel, Percival Everett Riffs Gleefully on 007”, in The New York Times
Origin
Cite this entry
villainsplain. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/villainsplain
“villainsplain.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/villainsplain. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “villainsplain,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/villainsplain.
Source: villainsplain on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.