Vicious
WordNet
adjective
(1) Marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful
"Poisonous hate"
"Venomous criticism"
"Vicious gossip"
(2) (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"
(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"
(4) Having the nature of vice
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From , from , from .
Adjective
- Pertaining to vice; characterised by immorality or depravity.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1 p. 195:
- We may so seize on vertue, that if we embrace it with an over-greedy and violent desire, it may become vitious.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1 p. 195:
- Evil, immoral or depraved.
- Violent, destructive and cruel.
- Savage and aggressive.