viper
Americannoun
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any of several venomous Old World snakes of the genus Vipera, especially V. berus, a small snake common in northern Eurasia.
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any related snakes belonging to the family Viperidae, characterized by erectile, venom-conducting fangs.
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any of various venomous or supposedly venomous snakes.
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a malignant or spiteful person.
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a false or treacherous person.
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Military. Viper, a 9-pound (4-kilogram), shoulder-launched, unguided U.S. Army antitank rocket with an effective range of 273 yards (250 meters).
idioms
noun
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any venomous Old World snake of the family Viperidae, esp any of the genus Vipera (the adder and related forms), having hollow fangs in the upper jaw that are used to inject venom
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any of various other snakes, such as the horned viper
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See pit viper
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a malicious or treacherous person
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of viper
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin vīpera, variant of unattested vīvipera, noun use of feminine of unattested vīviper, later (as re-formation) vīviparus “bringing forth live young”; see vivi-, -parous
Explanation
A viper is a certain type of poisonous snake. The most common vipers in the United States are rattlesnakes and water moccasins. Vipers are found in most places on earth and they're a diverse group with over 200 species. Vipers have specialized pits on their faces that can detect heat that's emitted from their prey, which gives them a big advantage to sense and catch their prey quickly. Viper is a scientific name for a particular family of snakes that poison others by biting them with hollow fangs that inject venom. And because of that, viper (and snake) are often used to describe spiteful, disloyal, or back-stabbing people.
Vocabulary lists containing viper
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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.
Powell compared China’s naval strategy around Taiwan to that of a boa constrictor, moving slowly to overpower its rival, rather than striking dramatically as a viper might.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 24, 2026
Instead, the Himalayan pit viper group consists of five separate species, including three previously unknown to science.
From Science Daily • May 26, 2026
In 2019, officials at the Chennai airport seized a horned pit viper snake, five Iguanas, four blue-tongued skinks, three green tree frogs and 22 Egyptian tortoises from a man travelling from Thailand.
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2025
He played Tedros, a wannabe music industry impresario who also happened to be a pseudo-cult-leading viper attracted to the shiny fame of Lily-Rose Depp’s pop star, Jocelyn.
From Salon • May 19, 2025
‘I seed it biting you! It was a frightsome poisnowse viper! It was a dreadly dungerous vindscreen viper!’
From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl
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.
