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viciousness

 - 5 dictionary results

vi⋅cious

  [vish-uhs]
Use viciousness in a Sentence
–adjective
1. addicted to or characterized by vice; grossly immoral; depraved; profligate: a vicious life.
2. given or readily disposed to evil: a vicious criminal.
3. reprehensible; blameworthy; wrong: a vicious deception.
4. spiteful; malicious: vicious gossip; a vicious attack.
5. unpleasantly severe: a vicious headache.
6. characterized or marred by faults or defects; faulty; unsound: vicious reasoning.
7. savage; ferocious: They all feared his vicious temper.
8. (of an animal) having bad habits or a cruel or fierce disposition: a vicious bull.
9. Archaic. morbid, foul, or noxious.
Origin:
1300–50; ME (< AF) < L vitiōsus, equiv. to viti(um) fault, vice 1 + -ōsus -ous

Related forms:
vi⋅cious⋅ly, adverb
vi⋅cious⋅ness, noun

Synonyms:
1. abandoned, corrupt, iniquitous, sinful. 4. malevolent.

Antonyms:
1. moral.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To viciousness
vi·cious   (vĭsh'əs)   
adj.  

  1. Having the nature of vice; evil, immoral, or depraved.

  2. Given to vice, immorality, or depravity.

  3. Spiteful; malicious: vicious gossip.

  4. Disposed to or characterized by violent or destructive behavior. See Synonyms at cruel.

  5. Marked by an aggressive disposition; savage. Used chiefly of animals.

  6. Severe or intense; fierce: a vicious storm.

  7. Faulty, imperfect, or otherwise impaired by defects or a defect: a forced, vicious style of prose.

  8. Impure; foul.


[Middle English, from Old French vicieus, from Latin vitiōsus, from vitium, vice.]
vi'cious·ly adv., vi'cious·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
vicious [ˈvɪʃəs]

  1. mod.
    great; excellent. : Man, this burger is really vicious.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

vicious 
c.1325 (implied in viciously), "of the nature of vice, wicked," from Anglo-Fr. vicious, O.Fr. vicieus, from L. vitiosus "faulty, defective, corrupt," from vitium "fault" (see vice (1)). Meaning "inclined to be savage or dangerous" is first recorded 1711 (originally of animals, especially horses); that of "full of spite, bitter, severe" is from 1825. In law, "marred by some inherent fault" (1393), hence also this sense in logic (1605); cf. vicious circle in reasoning (c.1792), which was given a general sense of "a situation in which action and reaction intensify one another" by 1839.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: vi·cious
Pronunciation: 'vish-&s
Function: adjective
: of, relating to, or being perverse or abnormal behavior in a domestic animal
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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