Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Vicious

Vi′cious, a. [OF. vicious, F. vicieux, fr. L. vitiosus, fr. vitium vice. See Vice a fault.] 1. Characterized by vice or defects; defective; faulty; imperfect.

Though I perchance am vicious in my guess. Shak.

The title of these lords was vicious in its origin. Burke.

A charge against Bentley of vicious reasoning. De Quincey.

2. Addicted to vice; corrupt in principles or conduct; depraved; wicked; as, vicious children; vicious examples; vicious conduct.

Who . . . heard this heavy curse, Servant of servants, on his vicious race. Milton.

3. Wanting purity; foul; bad; noxious; as, vicious air, water, etc. Dryden.

4. Not correct or pure; corrupt; as, vicious language; vicious idioms.

5. Not well tamed or broken; given to bad tricks; unruly; refractory; as, a vicious horse.

6. Bitter; spiteful; malignant. [Colloq.]

Syn. — Corrupt; faulty; wicked; depraved.

— Vi′cious·ly, adv. — Vi′cious·ness, n.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.