vi|ce

vice¹ «vys», noun.

1. an evil, immoral, or wicked habit or tendency: »

Lying and cruelty are vices.

2. evil; wickedness: »

There is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice (Thoreau).

SYNONYM(S): sin, iniquity, depravity, corruption.

3. a moral fault or defect; bad habit; flaw in character or conduct: »

So for a good old-gentlemanly vice, I think I must take up with avarice (Byron). Ferocity and insolence were not among the vices of the national character (Macaulay).

4. a mechanical defect in action or procedure; imperfection in the construction, arrangement, or constitution of a thing.

5. a physical defect or blemish; imperfection or weakness in some part of the system.

6. any one of several bad habits or tricks of horses, such as bolting or shying.

7. Also, Vice. a buffoon, often named for some vice, who supplied the comic relief in English morality plays.

╂[< Old French vice, learned borrowing from Latin vitium]

vice² «vys», noun, transitive verb, viced, vic|ing.

= vise. (Cf. ↑vise)

vi|ce³ «VY see», preposition.

instead of; in the place of; in succession to.

╂[< Latin vice, adverb; properly ablative of vicis a turn, change]

vice-,

prefix. one who acts in place of another; substitue; deputy; subordinate: »

Vice-president = a person who acts in the place of a president. Vice-consul = a subordinate consul.

╂[< Late Latin vice- < Latin vice vice³]