vicious 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]

2 having the nature of vice [syn: depraved, evil]

3 marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful; "a malevolent lie"; "poisonous hate...in his eyes"- Ernest Hemingway; "venomous criticism"; "vicious gossip" [syn: poisonous, venomous]

English

Etymology

From etyl xno vicious, etyl fro vicious (modern French vicieux), from etyl la vitiosus, from vitium.

Pronunciation

• a UK /ˈvɪʃəs/

• Rhymes with: -ɪʃəs

Adjective

1. 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.

2. Evil, immoral or depraved.
3. Violent, destructive and cruel.
4. savage and aggressive

The term vicious may refer to:

• Vicious (song), a song by Lou Reed
• Vicious (rapper), a rapper from UGK Records
• Sid Vicious, punk rock icon
• Vicious, the Cowboy Bebop character
• Full of vice

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