vicious
pronunciation
How to pronounce vicious in British English:
UK [ˈvɪʃəs]
How to pronounce vicious in American English:
US [ˈvɪʃəs]
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- Adjective:
- (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
- having the nature of vice
- marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful
Word Origin
- vicious (adj.)
- late 14c., "unwholesome, impure, of the nature of vice, wicked, corrupting, pernicious, harmful;" of a text, "erroneous, corrupt," from Anglo-French vicious, Old French vicios "wicked, cunning, underhand; defective, illegal" (Modern French vicieux), from Latin vitiosus (Medieval Latin vicious) "faulty, full of faults, defective, corrupt; wicked, depraved," from vitium "fault" (see vice (n.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" (late 14c.), hence also this sense in logic (c. 1600), as in vicious circle in reasoning (c. 1792, Latin circulus vitiosus), which was given a general sense of "a situation in which action and reaction intensify one another" by 1839. Related: Viciously (mid-14c., "sinfully"); viciousness.
Example
- 1. Since february several more vicious attacks on ahmadi houses have taken place .
- 2. Higher unemployment and rising bankruptcies could easily cause a vicious new downward lurch .
- 3. A second vicious tumble in the credit markets ; a second scalp on wall street .
- 4. That makes deflation a vicious trap , especially if people owe way too much money .
- 5. But such are the vicious feedback loops in the system that everyone should be aware of the considerable risks .