vicious
Americanadjective
-
vicious gossip;
a vicious attack.
- Synonyms:
- malevolent
-
They all feared his vicious temper.
-
(of an animal) having bad habits or a cruel or fierce disposition.
a vicious bull.
-
unpleasantly severe.
a vicious headache.
-
addicted to or characterized by vice; grossly immoral; depraved; profligate.
a vicious life.
- Synonyms:
- sinful , iniquitous , corrupt , abandoned
- Antonyms:
- moral
-
given or readily disposed to evil.
a vicious criminal.
-
reprehensible; blameworthy; wrong.
a vicious deception.
-
characterized or marred by faults or defects; faulty; unsound.
vicious reasoning.
-
Archaic. morbid, foul, or noxious.
adjective
-
wicked or cruel; villainous
a vicious thug
-
characterized by violence or ferocity
a vicious blow
-
informal unpleasantly severe; harsh
a vicious wind
-
characterized by malice
vicious lies
-
(esp of dogs, horses, etc) ferocious or hostile; dangerous
-
characterized by or leading to vice
-
invalidated by defects; unsound
a vicious inference
-
obsolete noxious or morbid
a vicious exhalation
Other Word Forms
- unvicious adjective
- unviciously adverb
- unviciousness noun
- viciously adverb
- viciousness noun
Etymology
Origin of vicious
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English or directly from Anglo-French, from Latin vitiōsus, equivalent to viti(um) “fault, defect, vice” ( vice 1 ) + -ōsus -ous
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.
Under the photo were comments posted by other social-media users—all in Albanian, many of them vicious.
Meanwhile, the rise of formidable local rivals has crowded the market and driven vicious price wars, eating into profit margins.
"And it was pretty vicious, it was pretty nasty, it was absolutely directed in a very personal way at me."
From BBC
Jessica Smith, data and insights officer at the charity, said fuel poverty caused a "vicious cycle" that led to damp homes, further debt, illness and mental health struggles.
From BBC
Among the hundreds of messages that poured in, an alarming cohort spoke to the vicious cycle of online hatred they see and the isolation they feel on social media.
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.
