 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Vicious \Vi"cious\, adjective [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}, adverb -- {Vi"cious*ness}, noun
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
vicious
adjective
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}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
199 Moby Thesaurus words for "vicious": 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
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |