vice1

 
Pronunciation: /vʌɪs/

noun

[mass noun]
  • immoral or wicked behaviour: an open sewer of vice and crime
  • criminal activities involving prostitution, pornography, or drugs: a mobile phone network is being used to peddle vice
  • [count noun] an immoral or wicked personal characteristic: hypocrisy is a particularly sinister vice
  • [count noun] a weakness of character or behaviour; a bad habit: cigars happen to be my father’s vice
  • (also stable vice) [count noun] a bad or neurotic habit of stabled horses, typically arising as a result of boredom.

Derivatives

viceless

adjective

Origin:

Middle English: via Old French from Latin vitium