# vice

Pronunciation: say "VYS" /vaɪs/

## Noun

1. Immoral or wicked behavior in general, or a particular bad habit or moral fault.
   - Simple: Bad or wicked behavior, or one bad habit that someone has.
   - _Gambling was his only real vice._
   - _The preacher warned his congregation against every kind of vice._
3. Another spelling of vise: a tool with two jaws, closed by a screw or lever, that holds an object firmly while it is worked on. *(Commonwealth)* — Alternative spelling of vise (“mechanical screw apparatus used for clamping”).
   - Simple: Another spelling of vise: a tool that holds something tightly while you work on it.
   - _The carpenter secured the timber in a heavy vice._
   - _A bench vice kept the joint firm while the glue set._
5. A category of crime involving activities such as prostitution, gambling, drugs, alcohol, or pornography, varying by jurisdiction.
   - Simple: A crime that involves things like gambling, drugs, selling sex, or illegal alcohol.
   - _The department's report listed arrests for vice alongside violent crime._
   - _Many jurisdictions classify online gambling as vice subject to special rules._
6. Short for vice squad: the police unit that deals with crimes such as prostitution, gambling, and illegal drugs. *(slang)* — Clipping of vice squad.
   - Simple: Short for vice squad: the police unit that deals with crimes like gambling, drugs, and prostitution.
   - _She transferred from homicide to vice last spring._
   - _Vice had been watching the address for weeks._
8. A fault in a horse's temper or behavior that makes the animal dangerous, harms its health, or reduces its usefulness.
   - Simple: A bad habit or fault in a horse that makes it dangerous, unhealthy, or less useful.
   - _The mare's only vice was a habit of kicking in her stall._
   - _Buyers checked the gelding carefully for any vice before the sale._

## Adjective

2. Designating a person ranked immediately below another and serving in their place; used in titles such as vice president.
   - Simple: Ranking just below a higher person and able to take their place, used in titles.
   - _The vice chairman presided over the meeting in the chairman's absence._
   - _He served as vice principal for nearly a decade._

## Preposition

4. In place of or instead of, especially of one person succeeding another in a post or appointment. *(dated)*
   - Simple: Used before a name or thing to mean 'instead of' or 'in its place.'
   - _The official notice read: Sarah Lane to be postmaster, vice Tom Hill, retired._
   - _The Navy orders named Captain Ruiz commanding officer of the ship, vice Captain Hale, reassigned._

## Verb

7. Another spelling of vise: to hold or squeeze something tightly, as in a vise. *(rare)* — Alternative spelling of vise (“to hold or squeeze with a vice”).
   - Simple: Another spelling of vise: to hold something tightly, the way a clamp does.

## Noun

9. A grip or grasp; a firm hold taken on something. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A firm hold or grip on something.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A person who acts in the place of a superior; a deputy.
- (noun) A staircase that winds upward in a spiral.
- (noun) A tool for drawing lead into cames: the flat grooved rods that hold the panes in a leaded window.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 5–6, 8** — Latin "vitium" ("fault or blemish") passed into Old French and then Middle English as vice. In English it took the place of the native Old English word "unþēaw."
**Meanings 2, 4** — Its source is Latin, where vice, the ablative of vicis, meant "in place of." Related words worth a look are Spanish "vez" (a time or a turn) and the French noun "fois" (a time).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/vice (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).