vicious
[vish-uh s]
- 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.
Show More
Origin of vicious
Synonyms
See more synonyms for vicious on Thesaurus.com1. abandoned, corrupt, iniquitous, sinful. 4. malevolent.
Antonyms
1. moral.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for viciously
Contemporary Examples
The best that can be said for these budding radicals is that at least they sincerely hate the thing they so viciously attack.
“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 StateLizzie Crocker
October 31, 2014
In 2004, two Sikh men were viciously beaten by young white assailants while walking on the sidewalk.
Nor is it where the gunman then viciously pistol whips his victim repeatedly for having the temerity not to die.
And in the 1950s, China policy was what Israel policy is today: a deeply ideological, viciously partisan issue.
Historical Examples
I wouldn't,' said Miggs viciously, 'no, not for five-and-forty pound!'
Barnaby RudgeCharles Dickens
He caught me viciously by the arm and looked sharply into my face.
Bardelys the MagnificentRafael Sabatini
I caught her viciously by the wrist, and with my face close up to hers "Folle!"
Bardelys the MagnificentRafael Sabatini
"That blow has killed Florimond de Condillac," he told her viciously.
St. Martin's SummerRafael Sabatini
“If not, he should learn,” said the chamois hunter, viciously.
The Princess VirginiaC. N. Williamson
vicious
- 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
Show More
Word Origin
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.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper