vicious

[ vish-uhs ]

/ ˈvɪʃ əs /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR vicious ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

addicted to or characterized by vice; grossly immoral; depraved; profligate: a vicious life.

given or readily disposed to evil: a vicious criminal.

reprehensible; blameworthy; wrong: a vicious deception.

spiteful; malicious: vicious gossip; a vicious attack.

unpleasantly severe: a vicious headache.

characterized or marred by faults or defects; faulty; unsound: vicious reasoning.

savage; ferocious: They all feared his vicious temper.

(of an animal) having bad habits or a cruel or fierce disposition: a vicious bull.

Archaic. morbid, foul, or noxious.

Words nearby vicious

vichyite, vichyssoise, vicinage, vicinal, vicinity, vicious, vicious circle, vicissitude, vick, vickers, vickers number

Origin of vicious

1300–50; Middle English (< Anglo-French) < Latin vitiōsus, equivalent to viti(um) fault, vice¹ + -ōsus -ous

SYNONYMS FOR vicious

1 abandoned, corrupt, iniquitous, sinful.

4 malevolent.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR vicious ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR vicious

1 moral.

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OTHER WORDS FROM vicious

vi·cious·ly, adverbvi·cious·ness, nounun·vi·cious, adjectiveun·vi·cious·ly, adverb

un·vi·cious·ness, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH vicious

vicious viscose viscous

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for vicious

“Vicious pecking, avian hysteria, mysterious deaths, and even cannibalism” are the results, he writes.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity|William O’Connor|December 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The late-November hacking of Sony, perhaps the most vicious episode of its kind, comes at the end of the period of mourning.
Kim Jong Un’s Kid Gloves Are Now Off|Gordon G. Chang|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But most of all, Ramone lingered on Vicious, whom he painted and drew over and over again.
‘All Good Cretins Go to Heaven’: Dee Dee Ramone’s Twisted Punk Paintings|Melissa Leon|December 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She later sued him alleging a vicious cycle of abuse, and he settled with his ex-wife out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Foxcatcher’s Real-Life Psycho Killer|Marlow Stern|November 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST

A hulking defender breaks into the backfield and takes him down with a vicious clothesline tackle.
Two New Films Preach Our Nation’s Corrosive Gridiron Gospel|Steve Almond|September 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He hoped that they expected him; he would smack his lips over the vicious joy of disappointing them.
A Yankee from the West|Opie Read
They had met and defeated a slimy, vicious enemy that had done its best to drag them down, and their spirits lifted accordingly.
The Lost Wagon|James Arthur Kjelgaard
By a repetition of vicious acts, evil habits have been formed within us, and have rivetted the fetters of sin.
A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Middle and Higher Classes in this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity.|William Wilberforce
A man's desire may lead him through devious ways both vile and vicious,—but a man's love leads only one way to one woman!
Temporal Power|Marie Corelli
Reid's "plain statement of fact" is not a true statement of observed fact; it is a vicious statement of conjectured fact.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, No. 382, October 1847|Various

British Dictionary definitions for vicious

vicious

/ (ˈvɪʃəs) /

adjective

wicked or cruel; villainousa vicious thug

characterized by violence or ferocitya vicious blow

informal unpleasantly severe; harsha vicious wind

characterized by malicevicious lies

(esp of dogs, horses, etc) ferocious or hostile; dangerous

characterized by or leading to vice

invalidated by defects; unsounda vicious inference

obsolete noxious or morbida vicious exhalation

Derived forms of vicious

viciously, adverbviciousness, noun

Word Origin for vicious

C14: from Old French vicieus, from Latin vitiōsus full of faults, from vitium a defect

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

vicious

adjective

Content related to vicious

Words related to vicious

Words nearby vicious

Origin of vicious

SYNONYMS FOR vicious

ANTONYMS FOR vicious

OTHER WORDS FROM vicious

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH vicious

Examples from the Web for vicious

British Dictionary definitions for vicious

adjective

Derived forms of vicious

Word Origin for vicious