vicious
See also: Vicious
English edit
Alternative forms edit
- vitious (obsolete)
Etymology edit
PIE word |
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*dwóh₁ |
From Middle English vicious, from Anglo-Norman vicious, (modern French vicieux), from Latin vitiōsus, from vitium (“fault, vice”). Equivalent to vice + -ous.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
vicious (comparative more vicious or viciouser, superlative most vicious or viciousest)
- Violent, destructive and cruel.
- Savage and aggressive.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/9/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- 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.
- (archaic) Pertaining to vice; characterised by immorality or depravity.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes […], London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:, 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.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
violent, destructive
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savage, aggressive
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pertaining to vice; characterised by immorality or depravity
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Middle English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman vicious, from Latin vitiōsus; equivalent to vice + -ous.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
vicious (plural and weak singular viciouse)
- Iniquitous, sinful, wicked (often in a way that causes harm or vice to/in others)
- (rare) Lacking purity or cleanness; spoiled or defiled.
- (rare) Inaccurate, modified, or debased; of substandard quality.
- (rare) Injurious, dangerous; causing serious harm.
Descendants edit
References edit
- “viciǒus, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-01.
Old French edit
Etymology edit
Adjective edit
vicious m (oblique and nominative feminine singular viciouse)
- vicious; malicious
- defective; not capable of functioning
Declension edit
Declension of vicious
Descendants edit
- Middle English: vicious, viciows, vicius, vycious, vycyus, vicyous, vecyous, vysyous, vycios, vycyous, vicyows
References edit
- vicios on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub