vicious

[vish-uhs]

SEE MORE 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.

Origin of vicious

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

Related formsvi·cious·ly, adverbvi·cious·ness, nounun·vi·cious, adjectiveun·vi·cious·ly, adverbun·vi·cious·ness, noun

Can be confusedvicious viscose viscous

Synonyms for vicious

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR vicious ON THESAURUS.COM

1. abandoned, corrupt, iniquitous, sinful. 4. malevolent.

Antonyms for vicious

1. moral.

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

Related Words for viciously

wickedly, savagely, brutally, ferociously, maliciously, immorally, wrongly

Examples from the Web for viciously

Contemporary Examples of viciously

The best that can be said for these budding radicals is that at least they sincerely hate the thing they so viciously attack.
An Ivy League Frat Boy’s Shallow Repentance
Stefan Beck
November 24, 2014
“They treated me like an alien,” she says, explaining that North Koreans are viciously stereotyped in South Korea.
How ‘Titanic ’Helped This Brave Young Woman Escape North Korea’s Totalitarian State
Lizzie Crocker
October 31, 2014
In 2004, two Sikh men were viciously beaten by young white assailants while walking on the sidewalk.
New York’s Sikhs Need Their Own Al Sharpton
Dean Obeidallah
August 8, 2014
Nor is it where the gunman then viciously pistol whips his victim repeatedly for having the temerity not to die.
Bronx Gunman Shot His Friend, Didn’t Spill His Drink
Michael Daly
August 5, 2014
And in the 1950s, China policy was what Israel policy is today: a deeply ideological, viciously partisan issue.
Why Doesn’t Anyone Care About the Rising U.S.-China Tension?
Peter Beinart
December 16, 2013

Historical Examples of viciously

I wouldn't,' said Miggs viciously, 'no, not for five-and-forty pound!'
Barnaby Rudge
Charles Dickens
He caught me viciously by the arm and looked sharply into my face.
Bardelys the Magnificent
Rafael Sabatini
I caught her viciously by the wrist, and with my face close up to hers "Folle!"
Bardelys the Magnificent
Rafael Sabatini
"That blow has killed Florimond de Condillac," he told her viciously.
St. Martin's Summer
Rafael Sabatini
“If not, he should learn,” said the chamois hunter, viciously.
The Princess Virginia
C. N. Williamson

British Dictionary definitions for viciously

vicious

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 Formsviciously, 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

Word Origin and History for viciously

vicious

adj.

early 14c. (implied in viciously), "of the nature of vice, wicked," from Anglo-French vicious, Old French vicieus, from Latin vitiosus "faulty, defective, corrupt," from vitium "fault" (see vice (n.1)). Meaning "inclined to be savage or dangerous" is first recorded 1711 (originally of animals, especially horses); that of "full of spite, bitter, severe" is from 1825. In law, "marred by some inherent fault" (late 14c.), hence also this sense in logic (c.1600); cf. vicious circle in reasoning (c.1792, Latin circulus vitiosus), which was given a general sense of "a situation in which action and reaction intensify one another" by 1839.