Adjacent Words

Vicious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

VI'CIOUS, a. [L. vitiosus.]
1. Defective; imperfect; as a system of government vicious and unsound.
2. Addicted to vice; corrupt in principles or conduct; depraved; wicked; habitually transgressing the moral law; as a vicious race of men; vicious parents; vicious children.
3. Corrupt; contrary to moral principles or to rectitude; as vicious examples; vicious conduct.
4. Corrupt, in a physical sense; foul; impure; insalubrious; as vicious air.
5. Corrupt; not genuine or pure; as vicious language; vicious idioms.
6. Unruly; refractory; not well tamed or broken; as a vicious horse.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering; "a barbarous crime"; "brutal beatings"; "cruel tortures"; "Stalin's roughshod treatment of the kulaks"; "a savage slap"; "vicious kicks" [syn: barbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, vicious]
2: having the nature of vice [syn: evil, vicious]
3: bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure; "a criminal waste of talent"; "a deplorable act of violence"; "adultery is as reprehensible for a husband as for a wife" [syn: condemnable, criminal, deplorable, reprehensible, vicious]
4: marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful; "poisonous hate"; "venomous criticism"; "vicious gossip" [syn: poisonous, venomous, vicious]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French vicios, from Latin vitiosus full of faults, corrupt, from vitium vice Date: 14th century 1. having the nature or quality of vice or immorality ; depraved 2. defective, faulty; also invalid 3. impure, noxious 4. a. dangerously aggressive ; savage <a vicious dog> b. marked by violence or ferocity ; fierce <a vicious fight> 5. malicious, spiteful <vicious gossip> 6. worsened by internal causes that reciprocally augment each other <a vicious wage-price spiral> • viciously adverb • viciousness noun Synonyms: vicious, villainous, iniquitous, nefarious, corrupt, degenerate mean highly reprehensible or offensive in character, nature, or conduct. vicious may directly oppose virtuous in implying moral depravity, or may connote malignancy, cruelty, or destructive violence <a vicious gangster>. villainous applies to any evil, depraved, or vile conduct or characteristic <a villainous assault>. iniquitous implies absence of all signs of justice or fairness <an iniquitous system of taxation>. nefarious suggests flagrant breaching of time-honored laws and traditions of conduct <the nefarious rackets of organized crime>. corrupt stresses a loss of moral integrity or probity causing betrayal of principle or sworn obligations <city hall was rife with corrupt politicians>. degenerate suggests having sunk to an especially vicious or enervated condition <a degenerate regime propped up by foreign powers>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 bad-tempered, spiteful (a vicious dog; vicious remarks). 2 violent, severe (a vicious attack). 3 of the nature of or addicted to vice. 4 (of language or reasoning etc.) faulty or unsound. Phrases and idioms: vicious circle see CIRCLE n. 11. vicious spiral continual harmful interaction of causes and effects, esp. as causing repeated rises in both prices and wages. Derivatives: viciously adv. viciousness n. Etymology: ME f. OF vicious or L vitiosus f. vitium VICE(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Vicious Vi"cious, a. [OF. vicious, F. vicieux, fr. L. vitiosus, fr. vitium vice. See Vice a fault.] 1. Characterized by vice or defects; defective; faulty; imperfect. Though I perchance am vicious in my guess. --Shak. The title of these lords was vicious in its origin. --Burke. A charge against Bentley of vicious reasoning. --De Quincey. 2. Addicted to vice; corrupt in principles or conduct; depraved; wicked; as, vicious children; vicious examples; vicious conduct. Who . . . heard this heavy curse, Servant of servants, on his vicious race. --Milton. 3. Wanting purity; foul; bad; noxious; as, vicious air, water, etc. --Dryden. 4. Not correct or pure; corrupt; as, vicious language; vicious idioms. 5. Not well tamed or broken; given to bad tricks; unruly; refractory; as, a vicious horse. 6. Bitter; spiteful; malignant. [Colloq.] Syn: Corrupt; faulty; wicked; depraved. -- Vi"cious*ly, adv. -- Vi"cious*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. A vicious person or a vicious blow is violent and cruel. He was a cruel and vicious man... He suffered a vicious attack by a gang of white youths... The blow was so sudden and vicious that he dropped to his knees. = brutal ADJ • viciously She had been viciously attacked with a hammer. ADV: usu ADV with v, also ADV adj • viciousness ...the intensity and viciousness of these attacks. 2. A vicious remark is cruel and intended to upset someone. It is a deliberate, nasty and vicious attack on a young man's character. = savage ADJ • viciously 'He deserved to die,' said Penelope viciously. ADV: ADV with v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Faulty, defective, imperfect. 2. Wicked, mischievous, depraved, immoral, sinful, corrupt, unprincipled, abandoned, demoralized, bad, worthless, profligate, iniquitous. 3. Foul, bad, impure. 4. Impure, debased, faulty, corrupt. 5. Unruly, refractory, contrary.

Moby Thesaurus

Draconian, Tartarean, abominable, acrimonious, amoral, animal, anthropophagous, arrant, atrocious, bad, baleful, baneful, barbaric, barbarous, base, beastly, bestial, bitchy, bitter, black, blamable, blameworthy, bloodthirsty, bloody, bloody-minded, brutal, brutalized, brute, brutish, cannibalistic, concentrated, contaminated, corroding, corrosive, corrupt, corrupting, corruptive, counterproductive, criminal, cruel, cruel-hearted, damaging, damnable, dark, deadly, defamatory, degenerate, degraded, degrading, deleterious, demoniac, demoniacal, depraved, desperate, despiteful, detrimental, devilish, diabolic, diabolical, disadvantageous, disgraceful, disserviceable, distressing, evil, execrable, exquisite, faulty, fearful, fell, feral, ferine, ferocious, fiendish, fiendlike, fierce, flagitious, flagrant, foul, furious, harmful, hateful, heinous, hellish, hurtful, ill, immoral, improper, inaccurate, inauspicious, inexpedient, infamous, inferior, infernal, inhuman, inhumane, iniquitous, injurious, invalid, kill-crazy, knavish, lethal, low, malefic, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, merciless, mischievous, miscreant, monstrous, murderous, nasty, naughty, nefarious, noisome, noncivilized, nonmoral, noxious, obnoxious, odious, ominous, opprobrious, peccant, pernicious, perverse, perverted, pitiless, poisonous, poor, prejudicial, profligate, putrid, rancorous, rank, ravening, reprehensible, reprobate, rotten, ruthless, sadistic, sanguinary, sanguineous, satanic, savage, scandalous, scatheful, septic, severe, shameful, shameless, sharkish, sinful, sinister, slanderous, slavering, spiteful, steeped in vice, subhuman, tameless, terrible, toxic, truculent, unchristian, uncivilized, unfavorable, unforgivable, ungentle, unhealthy, unhuman, unkind, unmoral, unpardonable, unpleasant, unprincipled, unskillful, unsound, unspeakable, untamed, untoward, unworthy, vehement, venal, venenate, veneniferous, venenous, venomous, vice-laden, vice-prone, vile, villainous, vindictive, violent, virulent, wicked, wild, wolfish, wrong