vice1

[vahys] /vaɪs/
noun
1.
an immoral or evil habit or practice.
Synonyms: fault, failing, foible, weakness.
Antonyms: virtue.
2.
immoral conduct; depraved or degrading behavior:
a life of vice.
Synonyms: depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, corruption.
Antonyms: virtue, morality.
3.
sexual immorality, especially prostitution.
Synonyms: wantonness, degeneracy, licentiousness.
4.
a particular form of depravity.
5.
a fault, defect, or shortcoming:
a minor vice in his literary style.
Synonyms: flaw, blemish, imperfection, foible, weakness.
6.
a bad habit, as in a horse.
7.
(initial capital letter) a character in the English morality plays, a personification of general vice or of a particular vice, serving as the buffoon.
8.
Archaic. a physical defect, flaw, or infirmity:
In most cases, attempts to relieve the symptoms will be of little avail without at the same time relieving or removing the constitutional vice which has induced this condition.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French < Latin vitium a fault, defect, vice
Synonym Study
1. Fault, failing, foible, weakness, vice imply shortcomings or imperfections in a person. Fault is the common word used to refer to any of the average shortcomings of a person; when it is used, condemnation is not necessarily implied: Of his many faults the greatest is vanity. Foible, failing, weakness all tend to excuse the person referred to. Of these foible is the mildest, suggesting a weak point that is slight and often amusing, manifesting itself in eccentricity rather than in wrongdoing: the foibles of artists. Weakness suggests that the person in question is unable to control a particular impulse, and gives way to self-indulgence: a weakness for pretty women. Failing is closely akin to fault, except that it is particularly applied to humanity at large, suggesting common, often venial, shortcomings: Procrastination and making excuses are common failings. Vice (which may also apply to a sin in itself, apart from a person: the vice of gambling ) is the strongest term, and designates a habit that is truly detrimental or evil.

vice2

[vahys] /vaɪs/
noun, verb (used with object), viced, vicing.
1.
vise.

vice3

[vahy-see, -suh, vahys] /ˈvaɪ si, -sə, vaɪs/
preposition
1.
instead of; in the place of.
Origin
1760-70; < Latin: instead of, ablative of vicis (genitive; not attested in nominative) interchange, alternation

vice-

1.
a combining form meaning “deputy,” used in the formation of compound words, usually titles of officials who serve in the absence of the official denoted by the base word:
viceroy; vice-chancellor.
Origin
Middle English ≪ Latin vice vice3
Examples from the web for vice
  • Nineteenth-century vice presidents had an annoying habit of dying in office.
  • Both the president and the vice-president trained as lawyers.
  • And one of the two new vice-presidents comes from the army.
  • Along with great wealth, for a few, it stimulated political vice and the noxious excretions.
  • Top-tier college presidents hold government positions equivalent to vice ministers.
  • We understand more clearly now that what is effective and beautiful in one language is a vice in another.
  • She's the chief designer of the fashion line and vice president of the company.
  • But the economy doesn't exist, in the end, to reward virtue and punish vice.
  • They convert a stylistic virtue into a vice, then lock us up in an addiction.
  • Every coin has its other side, every virtue its corresponding vice-and practically every university its festering sores.
British Dictionary definitions for vice

vice1

/vaɪs/
noun
1.
an immoral, wicked, or evil habit, action, or trait
2.
habitual or frequent indulgence in pernicious, immoral, or degrading practices
3.
a specific form of pernicious conduct, esp prostitution or sexual perversion
4.
a failing or imperfection in character, conduct, etc: smoking is his only vice
5.
(pathol, obsolete) any physical defect or imperfection
6.
a bad trick or disposition, as of horses, dogs, etc
Derived Forms
viceless, adjective
Word Origin
C13: via Old French from Latin vitium a defect

vice2

/vaɪs/
noun
1.
an appliance for holding an object while work is done upon it, usually having a pair of jaws
verb
2.
(transitive) to grip (something) with or as if with a vice
Derived Forms
vicelike, (US) viselike, adjective
Word Origin
C15: from Old French vis a screw, from Latin vītis vine, plant with spiralling tendrils (hence the later meaning)

vice3

/vaɪs/
adjective
1.
  1. (prenominal) serving in the place of or as a deputy for
  2. (in combination): viceroy
noun
2.
(informal) a person who serves as a deputy to another
Word Origin
C18: from Latin vice, from vicis interchange

vice4

/ˈvaɪsɪ/
preposition
1.
instead of; as a substitute for
Word Origin
C16: from Latin, ablative of vicis change

Vice

/vaɪs/
noun
1.
(in English morality plays) a character personifying a particular vice or vice in general
Word Origin and History for vice
n.

"moral fault, wickedness," c.1300, from Old French vice, from Latin vitium "defect, offense, blemish, imperfection," in both physical and moral senses (cf. Italian vezzo "usage, entertainment").

Horace and Aristotle have already spoken to us about the virtues of their forefathers and the vices of their own times, and through the centuries, authors have talked the same way. If all this were true, we would be bears today. [Montesquieu]
Vice squad is attested from 1905. Vice anglais "corporal punishment," literally "the English vice," is attested from 1942, from French.

"tool for holding," see vise.

vice-

word-forming element meaning "instead of, in place of," 15c., from Latin vice "in place of," ablative of vicis "change, turn, office" (see vicarious). Sometimes borrowed in Old French form vis-, vi-.