vice: Meaning and Definition of

vice

Pronunciation: (vīs), [key]
— n.
  1. an immoral or evil habit or practice.
  2. immoral conduct; depraved or degrading behavior: a life of vice.
  3. sexual immorality, esp. prostitution.
  4. a particular form of depravity.
  5. a fault, defect, or shortcoming: a minor vice in his literary style.
  6. a physical defect, flaw, or infirmity: a constitutional vice.
  7. a bad habit, as in a horse.
  8. (cap.) a character in the English morality plays, a personification of general vice or of a particular vice, serving as the buffoon.

vice

Pronunciation: (vīs), [key]
— viced, vic•ing.
  1. vise.

vi•ce

Pronunciation: (vī'sē, -su, vīs), [key]
— prep.
  1. instead of; in the place of.

vice-

Pronunciation: [key]
  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.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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