Vicious
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ˈvɪʃəs/
- Rhymes: -ɪʃəs
Alternative forms
- vitious obsolete
Origin
From Anglo-Norman vicious, Old French vicious (modern French vicieux), from Latin vitiÅsus, from vitium ("fault, vice").
Full definition of vicious
Adjective
vicious
- Pertaining to vice; characterised by immorality or depravity.
- 1603, , translating , 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 vicious.
- Evil, immoral or depraved.
- Violent, destructive and cruel.
- Savage and aggressive.
- 1922, w, “Piracyâ€: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days Chapter 2/9/1, He had always been remarkably immune from such little ailments, and had only once in his life been ill, of a vicious pneumonia long ago at school. He hadn't the faintest idea what to with a cold in the head, he just took quinine and continued to blow his nose.