nefarious

      nefarious (adj.) – extremely wicked or heinous

for your edification:  This one’s not gross or anything.  Rather, it’s more of a sweet little SAT tale you could tell your great Aunt Edna.  I guess.  Like, if Aunt Edna's sort of boring and cares about SAT words.  Anyway, here’s how to remember that nefarious means extremely wicked or heinous.  First, I’m going to introduce you to a fake word that you can use around smart people to make them wonder if there’s a word out there that they aren’t smart enough to know.  It’s a really fun game.  Okay.  The fake word is “fairious.”  For our purposes here, “fairious” means fairy-like, which means anything that is super-sweet, rainbowy and unicorny, harp musicy and lolipoppy, really lovely and wonderful.  When things are fairious, things are glorious.   When things are fairious, all is right with the world.

BUT!  Our word here is the opposite of fairious.  Please note that our word is NEfarious, and everyone knows that if a word starts with NE, it’s going to mean that it’s up to no good (see: negative, negatory, Neanderthal, Nebraska – sorry; I heard it’s kinda suckville there - , NeNe Leakes, necrophilia, nemesis; you get the point.).  So, it’s the opposite of “fairious.”  Fairious = Good. “Nefarious” = Extremely wicked; heinous; really, really bad.

examplification – Billy:  My nefarious geometry teacher Ms. McGoots is my mortal enemy.

Carl:  Big Hoots McGoots?  She wears pearls and pink cardigans and smells like a beautiful meadow in the spring.  She seems so fairious.

Billy:  Do not be fooled by her sly disguises and magnificent aroma.  That woman is an extremely wicked, heinous, protractor-wielding devil woman.

Carl:  So hot in a sweater, though.

Billy:  So hot.