vicious
Americanadjective
-
vicious gossip;
a vicious attack.
- Synonyms:
- malevolent
-
They all feared his vicious temper.
-
(of an animal) having bad habits or a cruel or fierce disposition.
a vicious bull.
-
unpleasantly severe.
a vicious headache.
-
addicted to or characterized by vice; grossly immoral; depraved; profligate.
a vicious life.
- Synonyms:
- sinful, iniquitous, corrupt, abandoned
- Antonyms:
- moral
-
given or readily disposed to evil.
a vicious criminal.
-
reprehensible; blameworthy; wrong.
a vicious deception.
-
characterized or marred by faults or defects; faulty; unsound.
vicious reasoning.
-
Archaic. morbid, foul, or noxious.
adjective
-
wicked or cruel; villainous
a vicious thug
-
characterized by violence or ferocity
a vicious blow
-
informal unpleasantly severe; harsh
a vicious wind
-
characterized by malice
vicious lies
-
(esp of dogs, horses, etc) ferocious or hostile; dangerous
-
characterized by or leading to vice
-
invalidated by defects; unsound
a vicious inference
-
obsolete noxious or morbid
a vicious exhalation
Other Word Forms
- unvicious adjective
- unviciously adverb
- unviciousness noun
- viciously adverb
- viciousness noun
Etymology
Origin of vicious
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English or directly from Anglo-French, from Latin vitiōsus, equivalent to viti(um) “fault, defect, vice” ( vice 1 ) + -ōsus -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The badger had just saved him from a pack of vicious snakes.
From Literature
Extremism is both the starting point and the end point of a vicious circle.
"Great civilizations outlast even the most vicious occupiers."
From Barron's
When accompanied by a vicious cycle of falling prices and falling demand, that turns into a process known as deflation.
From MarketWatch
It was impossible to miss: a vicious crimson, throbbing with malice.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
