vice

English Online Dictionary. What means vice‎? What does vice mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /vaɪs/
• Rhymes: -aɪs
• Homophone: vise

Etymology 1

From Middle English vice, from Old French vice, from Latin vitium (“fault or blemish”). Displaced native Old English unþēaw.

Noun

vice (plural vices)

1. Bad or immoral behaviour.
2. (law) Any of various crimes related (depending on jurisdiction) to weapons, prostitution, pornography, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or drugs.
3. (law enforcement, slang) Clipping of vice squad.
4. 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.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "bad habit"): virtue

Derived terms

• by vice of
• inherent vice
• stable vice
• vice girl
• vice squad

Related terms

Translations

See also

• habit

Etymology 2

See vise.

Noun

vice (plural vices)

1. (UK) Alternative spelling of vise (“mechanical screw apparatus used for clamping”)
2. A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods, for casements.
3. (architecture) A winding or spiral staircase.
4. (obsolete) A grip or grasp.

Translations

Verb

vice (third-person singular simple present vices, present participle vicing, simple past and past participle viced)

1. Alternative spelling of vise (“to hold or squeeze with a vice”)

Etymology 3

From Latin vice (“in place of”), ablative form of vicis. Compare French fois (“time”) and Spanish vez (“time, turn”).

Adjective

vice (not comparable)

1. in place of; subordinate to; designating a person below another in rank

Derived terms

Preposition

vice

1. (dated) instead of, in place of, versus (sense 2)

Usage notes

• While rare in modern standard English, this usage still appears among members of the United States military. This usage is common in informal rail transport contexts in the United Kingdom.
• Statements such as "vice Jones, who had resigned" may be abbreviated "vice Jones, resigned"

Noun

vice (plural vices)

1. 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 […]

Further reading

• vice on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• ICEV, cive

Esperanto

Adverb

vice

1. in rows

Related terms

• vico

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French vice, from Old French vice, borrowed from Latin vitium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vis/
• Homophones: vis, visse, vissent, visses
• Rhymes: -is

Noun

vice m (plural vices)

1. vice (bad habit)

Derived terms

See also

• défaut
• péché

Further reading

• “vice”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from English vice-, French vice-, German vize-, Italian vice-, Russian ви́це- (více-), Spanish vice-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvi.t͡se/

Preposition

vice

1. instead, instead of

Derived terms

References

• Progreso III (in Ido), 1910–1911, page 102
• Progreso IV (in Ido), 1911–1912, page 211, 408, 409
• Progreso V (in Ido), 1912–1913, page 723
• Progreso VII (in Ido), 1914, page 130

Italian

Etymology

From Latin vicem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvi.t͡ʃe/
• Rhymes: -itʃe
• Hyphenation: vì‧ce

Noun

vice m or f by sense (invariable)

1. deputy, substitute, vice

Related terms

• vicepresidente
• vice-

Anagrams

• cive, civè, veci

Latin

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯i.ke/, [ˈu̯ɪkɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈvi.t͡ʃe/, [ˈviːt͡ʃe]

Noun

vice

1. ablative singular of vicis

Preposition

vice

1. in place of, subordinate to

   vice alicuius fungor ― I deputise for someone

Derived terms

• vice versā

Descendants

• English: vice-
• French: vice
• German: vize-
• Ido: vice
• Italian: vice
• Piedmontese: vice
• Swedish: vice

Etymology 2

Noun

vīce

1. vocative singular of vīcus

References

• “vice”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vice”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Dizionario Latino, Olivetti
• vice in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• vyce, vyse, vijs, wise, vise, wyce, vyhs

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French vice, visse, from Latin vitium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈviːs(ə)/

Noun

vice (plural vices)

1. A fault or imperfection; a negative quality or attribute of something:
   1. A bad habit or tendency that one has; a negative human behaviour.
   2. A mistake; a fault due to deficience in knowledge or reasoning.
   3. (rare) An imperfection or blemish in one's visage or look.
2. Vice, iniquity, sinful behaviour; absence of virtue or morality:
   1. A vice; a general tendency or action that is morally bad.
   2. A specific example of immoral or sinful behaviour.
3. A sickness, disease or malady; a deleterious process effecting something.

Related terms

• viciate
• vicious
• viciously
• viciousnesse

Descendants

• English: vice
• Scots: vice

References

• “vīce, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-03-01.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French vice, borrowed from Latin vitium.

Noun

vice m (plural vices)

1. vice (bad habit)

Descendants

• French: vice

Portuguese

Noun

vice m or f by sense (plural vices)

1. used as an abbreviation of any word containing the prefix vice-

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʋìːt͡sɛ/, /ʋíːt͡sɛ/

Noun

vīce f pl

1. purgatory

Inflection

Spanish

Noun

vice m or f by sense (plural vice)

1. vice (second in command)

Swedish

Pronunciation

Adjective

vice (not comparable)

1. vice, second in rank, deputy, stand-in, acting

Related terms

• vicedirektör
• vicekonung
• vicepresident
• vicevärd
• vice versa

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English voys, from Anglo-Norman voiz, voys, veys, from Latin vōx.

Noun

vice

1. voice

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 75