What does "vice" mean?
Bad or immoral behaviour.
Vice
adj, name, noun, prep, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, prep, verb, slang ·1 syllable ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Bad or immoral behaviour.
- Grammar: vice is listed as adj, name, noun, prep, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: advocate, alter ego, alternate, amicus curiae.
- Useful contrasts: abstract value, ethical attribute, important personal trait.
- Usage evidence: Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.
How to use "vice"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "vice" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "vice" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "vice" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "vice" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "vice" is acting as adj, name, noun, prep, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "advocate" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "vice", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Bad or immoral behaviour.
"Pride is a vice, not a virtue."
- 2 Alternative spelling of vise (“mechanical screw apparatus used for clamping”). Commonwealth, alt-of, alternative
- 3 One who acts in place of a superior.
"c. 1850s-1870s, Edward Minister and Son, The Gazette of Fashion and Cutting-Room Companion The health of the Vice was proposed in appropriate language; in replying, Mr. Marriott thanked the company […]"
- 4 a specific form of evildoing wordnet
- 5 Any of various crimes related (depending on jurisdiction) to weapons, prostitution, pornography, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods, for casements.
- 7 a holding device attached to a workbench; has two jaws to hold workpiece firmly in place wordnet
- 8 Clipping of vice squad. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, slang
- 9 A winding or spiral staircase.
- 10 moral weakness wordnet
- 11 A defect in the temper or behaviour of a horse, such as to make the animal dangerous, to injure its health, or to diminish its usefulness.
"So a horse with say, navicular disease, making him suitable only for light hacking, would probably be unsound, whereas rearing would be a vice, being a "defect in the temper... making it dangerous". A vice can however render a horse unsound - possibly a crib biter will damage its wind."
- 12 A grip or grasp. obsolete
"Fang. If I but fiſt him once: if he come but within my Vice."
Verb
- 1 Alternative spelling of vise (“to hold or squeeze with a vice”). alt-of, alternative
"Camillo. As he had ſeen’t, or beene an Instrument / To vice you to't, that you haue toucht his Queene / Forbiddenly."
Adjective
- 1 in place of; subordinate to; designating a person below another in rank not-comparable
"vice president"
Preposition
- 1 Instead of; in place of; versus. dated
"He was gardener and out-door man, vice Upton, resigned."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
abstract valueethical attributeimportant personal traitmoral qualities
Example
"Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "vice"?
Common synonyms include: advocate, alter ego, alternate, amicus curiae, amorality, as proxy for.
How do you use "vice" in a sentence?
Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.
Etymology
Etymology 1
PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English vice, from Old French vice, from Latin vitium (“fault or blemish”). Displaced native Old English unþēaw.
Etymology 2
See vise.
Etymology 3
From Latin vice (“in place of”), ablative form of vicis. Compare French fois (“time”) and Spanish vez (“time, turn”).