nCOLLOCATIONS – Meaning 1: something that is very bad or harmful
ADJECTIVES/NOUN + evil
a great/greater evil
He saw fascism as the greatest evil of his times.
a lesser evil (=a bad thing, but not as bad as something else)
She knew that she couldn't leave the children, so she opted for the lesser evil and stayed.
a necessary evil (=something that is bad but necessary)
Most businesses see government regulation as a necessary evil.
a social evil (=something bad that happens in human society)
The community is being torn apart by poverty, drug abuse and other social evils.
a moral evil (=a bad thing in relation to principles of what is right and wrong)
Mental or physical torture is a moral evil, and it can never be justified.
nCOLLOCATIONS – Meaning 2: cruel or morally bad behaviour in general
verbs
fight/combat evil
Joan swore to fight evil in all its forms.
phrases
good and evil
You have to teach your kids about right and wrong, good and evil.
the forces of evil literary (=the people or things that increase the amount of evil in the world)
The king knew he must fight the forces of evil or his homeland would perish.
something is the root of all evil (=something is the main cause of bad things)
Love of money is the root of all evil.
Examples from the Corpus
evil• In his speech, he said that the white man is the cause of all evil.• Posidonius considered the chattel-slavery of his time an evil.• I could not understand why men who knew all about good and evil could hate and kill each other.• Only 14 days for the seven years to be increased to the sentence that fits his crimes and his evil - life.• Johnson: Moralevil is occasioned by free will, which implieschoice between good and evil.• Wars, revolutions, crimes all the evils that besetmankind could be traced to them.• His songs were melancholypictures of life and love and the evils of the consumer revolution.• Dad gave us a lecture on the evils of smoking.