vicious
[adjective]
Synonyms:
- violent, barbarous, cruel, ferocious, savage, wicked
- malicious, cruel, mean, spiteful, venomous, vindictive

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Antonyms: virtuous
Contrasted words: good, moral, righteous, right-minded
Related Words: bad, faulty, poor, unsound, opprobrious, reprehensible, contaminated, obnoxious, septic, brutish, bloodthirsty, severe

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English Thesaurus: cruel, heartless, sadistic, barbaric, vicious, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

vi‧cious /ˈvɪʃəs/ adjective
[Date: 1300-1400; Language: Old French; Origin: vicieux, from Latin vitiosus 'full of faults', from vitium; ⇒ vice]

1. violent and cruel in a way that hurts someone physically:
a vicious murder
a vicious killer
Keep away from that dog, he can be vicious.

2. very unkind in a way that is intended to hurt someone’s feelings or make their character seem bad Synonym : malicious:
Sarah can be quite vicious at times.
a vicious personal attack on the Duchess
She was shocked by the vicious tone in his voice.

3. unpleasantly strong or severe Synonym : violent:
a vicious gust of wind
a vicious headache
—viciously adverb:
He twisted her arm viciously.
—viciousness noun [uncountable]

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

vicious
adj.
VERBS be, look, sound | become, get, turn The computer wars are going to get vicious over the next few years.
ADV. particularly, truly, very a particularly vicious and brutal crime
increasingly | rather

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

cruel deliberately hurting people or making them suffer:
It was cruel to lock him in there all day.
Her father had been very cruel to her when she was a child.
a cruel, selfish woman
heartless not feeling any pity and not caring about other people or their problems:
How could you be so heartless!
He was cold and heartless and had no concern for the welfare of his employees.
sadistic getting pleasure from making other people suffer:
a sadistic killer
a sadistic thing to do
barbaric extremely cruel, in a way that shocks people:
a barbaric punishment
a barbaric sport
vicious very violent and cruel, especially by suddenly attacking someone and causing injury to them:
a vicious attack on an innocent man
Some dogs can be vicious.
brutal very cruel and violent, in a way that shows no human feelings:
a brutal dictator
the brutal methods used by the secret police
inhumane inhumane conditions, treatment etc are not considered acceptable because they cause too much suffering:
the inhumane treatment of prisoners
cold-blooded a cold-blooded murder, attack etc is done without showing any feeling or pity for the person who is attacked. A cold-blooded killer kills people without showing any pity:
a woman 's cold-blooded murder of her devoted husband
a cold-blooded psychopath

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

violent /ˈvaɪələnt/ using force to hurt or kill people – used about people, crimes etc. Also used about films or books that contain a lot of violence:
a violent man who couldn’t control his temper
the increase in violent crime
The film is too violent to be shown to children.
vicious /ˈvɪʃəs/ violent and dangerous, and seeming to enjoy hurting people for no reason:
a vicious attack on an unarmed man
We were surrounded by a gang of vicious thugs, armed with knives.
rough /rʌf/ using force or violence, but not causing serious injury:
Some of the boys were being a bit rough with the younger kids.
There were complaints about rough treatment by the police.
brutal /ˈbruːtl/ behaving in a way that is very cruel and violent, and showing no pity:
Idi Amin was a brutal dictator.
a particularly brutal murder
The prison guards were brutal and corrupt.
savage /ˈsævɪdʒ/ attacking people in a particularly cruel way – used about people and fighting, especially in news reports:
a savage killer
There was savage fighting in the capital Mogadishu.
bloody a bloody battle or war is very violent and a lot of people are killed or injured:
a bloody civil war
The Russians were engaged in a bloody battle against the German army.
ferocious /fəˈrəʊʃəs/ a ferocious attack or battle is extremely violent. Also used about animals that are likley to attack in a very violent way:
The two armies fought a ferocious battle.
a ferocious beast
It was the most ferocious attack I have ever seen.
fierce a fierce animal or person looks frightening and likely to attack people:
A fierce dog stood growling at the gate.
Bears are always fierce when they have young.
fierce bodyguards
bloodthirsty a bloodthirsty person enjoys watching violence. A bloodthirsty story contains a lot of violent scenes:
In Mexico, humans were sacrificed to bloodthirsty gods.
a bloodthirsty tale of revenge
gory showing or describing injuries, blood, death etc clearly and in detail:
a gory horror movie
The book was too gory for many readers.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲