Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Mean-spirited or deliberately hurtful; malicious.
- adjective Extremely violent or injurious; cruel.
- adjective Marked by an aggressive disposition. Used chiefly of animals.
- adjective Disposed to violent or destructive behavior.
- adjective Severe, powerful, or intense; fierce.
- adjective Having the nature of vice; evil, immoral, or depraved.
- adjective Given to vice, immorality, or depravity.
- adjective Faulty or defective.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Characterized by vice or imperfection; faulty; defective.
- Addicted to vice; habitually transgressing moral law; depraved; profligate; wicked.
- Contrary to moral principles or to rectitude; perverse; pernicious; evil; bad.
- Impure; foul; vitiated: as, vicious humors.
- Faulty; incorrect; not pure; corrupt: as, a vicious style.
- Not well broken or trained; given to objectionable tricks: said of an animal.
- Characterized by severity; virulent; malignant; spiteful: as, a vicious attack.
- Synonyms and Wicked, Depraved, etc. (see
criminal ), unprincipled, licentious, profligate. - Refractory, ugly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Characterized by vice or defects; defective; faulty; imperfect.
- adjective Addicted to vice; corrupt in principles or conduct; depraved; wicked.
- adjective Wanting purity; foul; bad; noxious.
- adjective Not correct or pure; corrupt.
- adjective Not well tamed or broken; given to bad tricks; unruly; refractory.
- adjective colloq. Bitter; spiteful; malignant.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Pertaining to
vice ; characterised byimmorality ordepravity . - adjective
Evil ,immoral ordepraved . - adjective
Violent ,destructive andcruel . - adjective
Savage andaggressive .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
- adjective marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful
- adjective having the nature of vice
- adjective bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I borrowed the term vicious cycle as it did in cycle for the past 71 years or once less than every 4 years.
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When I use the term vicious, it is for the sake of talking your language; for, if we came to explanations, it might happen that you called vice what I call virtue, and virtue what I call vice.
Diderot and the Encyclopædists Volume II. John Morley 1880
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The Palestinian Authority urged the international community to intervene and implement the two-state solution, saying that is the only way to end what it called the "vicious cycle of violence."
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To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the "rhetoric" of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the "rhetoric" and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible.
The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel Glenn Harlan Reynolds 2011
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To be clear, if you're using this event to criticize the 'rhetoric' of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you're either: (a) asserting a connection between the 'rhetoric' and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you're not, in which case you're just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible.
Morning Bits Jennifer Rubin 2011
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The Palestinian Authority urged the international community to intervene and implement the two-state solution, saying that is the only way to end what it called the "vicious cycle of violence."
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The 21-year-old beauty queen also spoke, defending herself against what she called vicious attacks.
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JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Condemning what she calls vicious attacks, Hillary Clinton says those who carry them out are cowards.
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The 21-year-old beauty queen also spoke, defending herself against what she called vicious attacks.
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After Trump spoke, the 21-year-old Prejean, who was accompanied by her parents, took her turn at the lectern, defending herself against what she described as vicious attacks.
Miss California KEEPS The Crown: Trump Compliments Her Beauty (VIDEO) 2009
Louises commented on the word vicious
The first inkling of animal clarity was already there, a kind of vicious joy in the power that would come up through the soles of my feet into my ankles, shins, hips elbows, shoulders. If I lived that long. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.
March 27, 2012
Louises commented on the word vicious
The hunger, in its vicious simplicity, teaches you how to be a werewolf. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan.
April 1, 2012