Vice

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Preposition

CIDE DICTIONARY

Vice, n. [F., from L. vitium.].

•  A defect; a fault; an error; a blemish; an imperfection; as, the vices of a political constitution; the vices of a horse.  [1913 Webster]

  "Withouten vice of syllable or letter."  [1913 Webster]

  "Mark the vice of the procedure."  [1913 Webster]
•  A moral fault or failing; especially, immoral conduct or habit, as in the indulgence of degrading appetites; customary deviation in a single respect, or in general, from a right standard, implying a defect of natural character, or the result of training and habits; a harmful custom; immorality; depravity; wickedness; as, a life of vice; the vice of intemperance.  [1913 Webster]

  "I do confess the vices of my blood."  [1913 Webster]

  "Ungoverned appetite . . . a brutish vice."  [1913 Webster]

  "When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
  The post of honor is a private station."  [1913 Webster]
•  The buffoon of the old English moralities, or moral dramas, having the name sometimes of one vice, sometimes of another, or of Vice itself; -- called also Iniquity.  [1913 Webster]

  " This character was grotesquely dressed in a cap with ass's ears, and was armed with a dagger of lath: one of his chief employments was to make sport with the Devil, leaping on his back, and belaboring him with the dagger of lath till he made him roar. The Devil, however, always carried him off in the end."  Nares.  [1913 Webster]

  "How like you the Vice in the play?
  . . . I would not give a rush for a Vice that has not a wooden dagger to snap at everybody."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Crime; sin; iniquity; fault. See Crime.

Vice, n. [See Vise.].

•  A kind of instrument for holding work, as in filing. Same as Vise.  [1913 Webster]
•  A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods, for casements.  [1913 Webster]
•  A gripe or grasp.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

Vice, v. t. 

 To hold or squeeze with a vice, or as if with a vice.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
"The coachman's hand was viced between his upper and lower thigh."  [1913 Webster]

Vice, prep. [L., abl. of vicis change, turn. See Vicarious.].

 In the place of; in the stead; as, A. B. was appointed postmaster vice C. D. resigned.  [1913 Webster]

Vice, a. [Cf. F. vice-. See Vice, prep.].

 Denoting one who in certain cases may assume the office or duties of a superior; designating an officer or an office that is second in rank or authority; as, vice president; vice agent; vice consul, etc.  [1913 Webster]

Vice admiral. [Cf. F. vice-amiral.] (a) An officer holding rank next below an admiral. By the existing laws, the rank of admiral and vice admiral in the United States Navy will cease at the death of the present incumbents. (b) A civil officer, in Great Britain, appointed by the lords commissioners of the admiralty for exercising admiralty jurisdiction within their respective districts. -- Vice admiralty, the office of a vice admiral. -- Vice-admiralty court, a court with admiralty jurisdiction, established by authority of Parliament in British possessions beyond the seas. Abbott. -- Vice chamberlain, an officer in court next in rank to the lord chamberlain. [Eng.] -- Vice chancellor. (a) (Law) An officer next in rank to a chancellor. (b) An officer in a university, chosen to perform certain duties, as the conferring of degrees, in the absence of the chancellor. (c) (R. C. Ch.) The cardinal at the head of the Roman Chancery. -- Vice consul [cf. F. vice-consul], a subordinate officer, authorized to exercise consular functions in some particular part of a district controlled by a consul. -- Vice king, one who acts in the place of a king; a viceroy. -- Vice legate [cf. F. vice-légat], a legate second in rank to, or acting in place of, another legate. -- Vice presidency, the office of vice president. -- Vice president [cf. F. vice-président], an officer next in rank below a president.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Vice, n.
1 a evil or grossly immoral conduct. b a particular form of this, esp. involving prostitution, drugs, etc.
2 a depravity, evil. b an evil habit; a particular form of depravity (has the vice of gluttony).
3 a defect of character or behaviour (drunkenness was not among his vices).
4 a fault or bad habit in a horse etc.

Idiom

vice ring a group of criminals involved in organizing illegal prostitution. vice squad a police department enforcing laws against prostitution, drug abuse, etc.

Derivative

viceless adj.

Vice, n. & v.
--n. (US vise) an instrument, esp. attached to a workbench, with two movable jaws between which an object may be clamped so as to leave the hands free to work on it.
--v.tr. secure in a vice.

Derivative

vicelike adj.

Vice, prep. in the place of; in succession to.

Vice, n. colloq. = VICE-PRESIDENT, VICE ADMIRAL , etc.

Etymology

abbr.

THESAURUS

Vice

advocate, alter ego, alternate, amicus curiae, as proxy for, as representing, attorney, backup, backup man, bad habit, badness, besetting sin, blemish, champion, corruption, crime, criminal tendency, criminality, criminosis, debasement, debauchery, decay, defect, deficiency, degeneracy, degradation, depravity, deputy, discourtesy, disorder, disorderliness, disorderly conduct, disruption, disruptiveness, dummy, evil, evil courses, evildoing, executive officer, exponent, failing, failure, fault, feloniousness, figurehead, flaw, foible, for, frailty, frowned-upon behavior, hooliganism, horseplay, ill, immorality, imperfection, impropriety, in behalf of, in lieu of, in place of, in preference to, indecency, infirmity, iniquity, lawbreaking, licentiousness, lieutenant, locum, locum tenens, malfeasance, malpractice, malversation, misbehavior, misconduct, misdemeanor, misdoing, misfeasance, misprision, misprision of treason, moral flaw, naughtiness, nonsanctioned behavior, on behalf of, paranymph, perversion, pinch hitter, pleader, positive misprision, procurator, profligacy, proxy, replacing, representative, rot, roughhouse, rowdiness, rowdyism, ruffianism, second in command, secondary, shortcoming, sin, sinfulness, squalor, stand-in, substitute, surrogate, thou scarlet sin, transgression, unchastity, understudy, utility man, vandalism, venality, venial sin, vicar, vicar general, vicegerent, viciousness, villainy, weak point, weak side, weakness, wickedness, wrong, wrong conduct, wrongdoing

ROGET THESAURUS

Vice

Instrument

N instrument, machinery, mechanism, engineering, instrument, organ, tool, implement, utensil, machine, engine, lathe, gin, mill, air engine, caloric engine, heat engine, gear, tackle, tackling, rig, rigging, apparatus, appliances, plant, materiel, harness, trappings, fittings, accouterments, barde, equipment, equipmentage, appointments, furniture, upholstery, chattels, paraphernalia, mechanical powers, lever, leverage, mechanical advantage, crow, crowbar, handspike, gavelock, jemmy, jimmy, arm, limb, wing, oar, paddle, pulley, wheel and axle, wheelwork, clockwork, wheels within wheels, pinion, crank, winch, cam, pedal, capstan, wheel, inclined plane, wedge, screw, spring, mainspring, can hook, glut, heald, heddle, jenny, parbuckle, sprag, water wheel, handle, hilt, haft, shaft, heft, shank, blade, trigger, tiller, helm, treadle, key, turnscrew, screwdriver, knocker, hammer, edge tool, borer, vice, teeth, nail, rope, peg, support, spoon, arms, oar, cardiograph, recapper, snowplow, tenpenny, votograph, instrumental, mechanical, machinal, brachial.

Prison

N prison, prison house, jail, gaol, cage, coop, den, cell, stronghold, fortress, keep, donjon, dungeon, Bastille, oubliette, bridewell, house of correction, hulks, tollbooth, panopticon, penitentiary, guardroom, lockup, hold, round house, watch house, station house, sponging house, station, house of detention, black hole, pen, fold, pound, inclosure, isolation (exclusion), penal settlement, penal colony, bilboes, stocks, limbo, quod, calaboose, chauki, choky, thana, workhouse, Newgate, Fleet, Marshalsea, King's Bench, Queen's Bench, bond, bandage, irons, pinion, gyve, fetter, shackle, trammel, manacle, handcuff, straight jacket, strait jacket, strait-jacket, strait-waistcoat, hopples, vice, vise, yoke, collar, halter, harness, muzzle, gag, bit, brake, curb, snaffle, bridle, rein, reins, bearing rein, martingale, leading string, tether, picket, band, guy, chain, cord, cavesson, hackamore, headstall, jaquima, lines, ribbons, bolt, deadbolt, bar, lock, police lock, combination lock, padlock, rail, wall, stone wall, paling, palisade, fence, picket fence, barbed wire fence, Cyclone fence, stockade fence, chain-link fence, barrier, barricade, drag.

Deputy

N deputy, substitute, vice, proxy, locum tenens, badli, delegate, representative, next friend, surrogate, secondary, regent, viceregent, vizier, minister, vicar, premier, chancellor, prefect, provost, warden, lieutenant, archon, consul, proconsul, viceroy, commissioner, Tsung-li Yamen, Wai Wu Pu, plenipotentiary, alter ego, team, eight, eleven, champion, acting, vice, vice regal, accredited to, in behalf of, deputy, substitute, vice, proxy, locum tenens, badli, delegate, representative, next friend, surrogate, secondary, regent, viceregent, vizier, minister, vicar, premier, chancellor, prefect, provost, warden, lieutenant, archon, consul, proconsul, viceroy, commissioner, Tsung-li Yamen, Wai Wu Pu, plenipotentiary, alter ego, team, eight, eleven, champion, acting, vice, vice regal, accredited to, in behalf of.

Retention

N retention, retaining, keep, detention, custody, tenacity, firm hold, grasp, gripe, grip, iron grip, fangs, teeth, claws, talons, nail, unguis, hook, tentacle, tenaculum, bond, clutches, tongs, forceps, pincers, nippers, pliers, vice, paw, hand, finger, wrist, fist, neaf, neif, bird in hand, captive, retaining, retentive, tenacious, unforfeited, undeprived, undisposed, uncommunicated, incommunicable, inalienable, in mortmain, in strict settlement, uti possidetis.

Wrong

N wrong, what ought not to be, what should not be, malum in se, unreasonableness, grievance, shame, injustice, tort, unfairness, iniquity, foul play, partiality, leaning, bias, favor, favoritism, nepotism, party spirit, partisanship, bigotry, undueness, wrongdoing (vice), unlawfulness, robbing Peter to pay Paul, the wolf and the lamb, vice, a custom more honored in the breach than the obser, wrong, wrongful, bad, too bad, unjust, unfair, inequitable, unequitable, unequal, partial, one-sided, injurious, tortious, objectionable, unreasonable, unallowable, unwarrantable, unjustifiable, improper, unfit, unjustified, illegal, iniquitous, immoral, in the wrong, in the wrong box, wrongly, it will not do.

Vice

N vice, evil-doing, evil courses, wrongdoing, wickedness, viciousness, iniquity, peccability, demerit, sin, Adam, old Adam, offending Adam, immorality, impropriety, indecorum, scandal, laxity, looseness of morals, enphagy, dophagy, exophagy, want of principle, want of ballast, obliquity, backsliding, infamy, demoralization, pravity, depravity, pollution, hardness of heart, brutality, corruption, knavery, profligacy, flagrancy, atrocity, cannibalism, lesbianism, Sadism, infirmity, weakness, weakness of the flesh, frailty, imperfection, error, weak side, foible, failing, failure, crying sin, besetting sin, defect, deficiency, cloven foot, lowest dregs of vice, sink of iniquity, Alsatian den, gusto picaresco, fault, crime, criminality, sinner, brothel, gambling house, joint, opium den, shooting gallery, crack house, vicious, sinful, sinning, wicked, iniquitous, immoral, unrighteous, wrong, criminal, naughty, incorrect, unduteous, undutiful, unprincipled, lawless, disorderly, contra bonos mores, indecorous, unseemly, improper, dissolute, profligate, scampish, unworthy, worthless, desertless, disgraceful, recreant, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, discreditable, disreputable, Sadistic, base, sinister, scurvy, foul, gross, vile, black, grave, facinorous, felonious, nefarious, shameful, scandalous, infamous, villainous, of a deep dye, heinous, flagrant, flagitious, atrocious, incarnate, accursed, Mephistophelian, satanic, diabolic, hellish, infernal, stygian, fiendlike, hell-born, demoniacal, devilish, fiendish, miscreated, misbegotten, demoralized, corrupt, depraved, evil-minded, evil-disposed, ill-conditioned, malevolent, heartless, graceless, shameless, virtueless, abandoned, lost to virtue, unconscionable, sunk in iniquity, lost in iniquity, steeped in iniquity, incorrigible, irreclaimable, obdurate, reprobate, past praying for, culpable, reprehensible, unjustifiable, indefensible, inexcusable, inexpiable, unpardonable, irremissible, weak, frail, lax, infirm, imperfect, indiscrete, demoralizing, degrading, wrong, sinfully, without excuse, Int, O tempora!, O mores!, alitur vitium vivitque tegendo, genus est mortis male vivere, mala mens malus animus, nemo repente fuit turpissimus, the trail of the serpent is over them all, to sanction vice and hunt decorum down.