vicious
/ˈvɪʃəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.83 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Violent, destructive and cruel.
adj
Savage and aggressive.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "We may so seize on vertue, that if we embrace it with an over-greedy and violent desire, it may become vicious."
- "Admiral Crawford was a man of vicious conduct, who chose, instead of retaining his niece, to bring his mistress under his own roof"
- "A murrain on you, Reverend Apse/I hope you get caught in a vicious moral lapse."
Etymology
PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English vicious, from Anglo-Norman vicious, (modern French vicieux), from Latin vitiōsus, from vitium (“fault, vice”). Equivalent to vice + -ous.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: vicious, vitiōsus
Usage
Inflected Forms
more vicious (comparative)
viciouser (comparative)
most vicious (superlative)
viciousest (superlative)
vitious (alternative)
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
vice#Related_terms