Vice

¹
n.

[F., from L. vitium.]

1. A defect; a fault; an error; a blemish; an imperfection; as, the vices of a political constitution; the vices of a horse.

Withouten vice of syllable or letter.

Chaucer.

Mark the vice of the procedure.

Sir W. Hamilton.

2. A moral fault or failing; especially, immoral conduct or habit, as in the indulgence of degrading appetites; customary deviation in a single respect, or in general, from a right standard, implying a defect of natural character, or the result of training and habits; a harmful custom; immorality; depravity; wickedness; as, a life of vice; the vice of intemperance.

I do confess the vices of my blood.

Shak.

Ungoverned appetite . . . a brutish vice.

Milton.

When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway,
The post of honor is a private station.

Addison.

3. The buffoon of the old English moralities, or moral dramas, having the name sometimes of one vice, sometimes of another, or of Vice itself; -- called also Iniquity.

Note: This character was grotesquely dressed in a cap with ass's ears, and was armed with a dagger of lath: one of his chief employments was to make sport with the Devil, leaping on his back, and belaboring him with the dagger of lath till he made him roar. The Devil, however, always carried him off in the end. Nares.

How like you the Vice in the play?
. . . I would not give a rush for a Vice that has not a wooden dagger to snap at everybody.

B. Jonson.

Syn. -- Crime; sin; iniquity; fault. See Crime.

Vice²
n.

[See Vise.]

1. (Mech.) A kind of instrument for holding work, as in filing. Same as Vise.

2. A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods, for casements. [Written also vise.]

3. A gripe or grasp. [Obs.] Shak.

Vice
v. t.

[imp. & p. p. Viced ; p. pr. & vb. n. Vicing .]
To hold or squeeze with a vice, or as if with a vice. Shak.

The coachman's hand was viced between his upper and lower thigh.

De Quincey.

Vi·ce
prep.

[L., abl. of vicis change, turn. See Vicarious.]
In the place of; in the stead; as, A. B. was appointed postmaster vice C. D. resigned.

Vice
a.

[Cf. F. vice-. See Vice, prep.]
Denoting one who in certain cases may assume the office or duties of a superior; designating an officer or an office that is second in rank or authority; as, vice president; vice agent; vice consul, etc.

Vice admiral. [Cf. F. vice-amiral.]
(a) An officer holding rank next below an admiral. By the existing laws, the rank of admiral and vice admiral in the United States Navy will cease at the death of the present incumbents. (b) A civil officer, in Great Britain, appointed by the lords commissioners of the admiralty for exercising admiralty jurisdiction within their respective districts. -- Vice admiralty, the office of a vice admiral. -- Vice-admiralty court, a court with admiralty jurisdiction, established by authority of Parliament in British possessions beyond the seas. Abbott. -- Vice chamberlain, an officer in court next in rank to the lord chamberlain. [Eng.] -- Vice chancellor. (a) (Law) An officer next in rank to a chancellor. (b) An officer in a university, chosen to perform certain duties, as the conferring of degrees, in the absence of the chancellor. (c) (R. C. Ch.) The cardinal at the head of the Roman Chancery. -- Vice consul [cf. F. vice-consul], a subordinate officer, authorized to exercise consular functions in some particular part of a district controlled by a consul. -- Vice king, one who acts in the place of a king; a viceroy. -- Vice legate [cf. F. vice-légat], a legate second in rank to, or acting in place of, another legate. -- Vice presidency, the office of vice president. -- Vice president [cf. F. vice-président], an officer next in rank below a president.

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vice

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noun

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Antonyms by Answers.com:

vice

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Definition: bad habit, weakness; sin
Antonyms: good point, propriety, strength, virtue

Oxford Dictionary of the US Military:

vice

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n. informal short for vice admiral, etc.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms:

Vice

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Vice, the, a stock character in medieval morality plays; he is a cynical kind of fool in the service of the Devil, and tries to tempt others in a comical but often sinister manner. The Vice is believed to be the ancestor of some later dramatic villains like Shakespeare's Iago, and of some more comic characters like his Falstaff.

Oxford Dictionary of Architecture & Landscaping:

vice

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vis, vyse

Spiral stair constructed round a central newel or pier.

Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy:

vice

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The classic discussion is Book 7 of Aristotle's Nicomachaean Ethics, in which he distinguishes incontinence from intemperance. Incontinent people are impetuous, or weak. They know what they should do, but succumb to temptation, being carried away by their passions. Intemperate people on the other hand do wrong deliberately. They have an incorrect notion of the proper ends of human action. They are less prone to remorse, and less curable, than incontinent ones. See also virtue.

West's Encyclopedia of American Law:

Vice

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

A fault, flaw, defect, or imperfection. Immoral conduct, practice, or habit.

In civil law, redhibitory vices are defects or flaws in the subject matter of a sale that entitle the buyer to return the item and recover the purchase price.

A vice crime is any type of immoral and illegal activity, such as prostitution, the sale of drugs and narcotics, and gambling.

Quotes About:

Vice

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Quotes:

"Alas, human vices, however horrible one might imagine them to be, contain the proof (were it only in their infinite expansion) of man's longing for the infinite; but it is a longing that often takes the wrong route. It is my belief that the reason behind all culpable excesses lies in this depravation of the sense of the infinite." - Charles Baudelaire

"There are men so incorrigibly lazy that no inducement that you can offer will tempt them to work; so eaten up by vice that virtue is abhorrent to them, and so inveterately dishonest that theft is to them a master passion. When a human being has reached that stage, there is only one course that can be rationally pursued. Sorrowfully, but remorselessly, it must be recognized that he has become lunatic, morally demented, incapable of self-government, and that upon him, therefore, must be passed the sentence of permanent seclusion from a world in which he is not fit to be at large." - William Booth

"The vices we scoff at in others, laugh at us within ourselves." - Thomas Edward Brown

"Tobacco and alcohol, delicious fathers of abiding friendships and fertile reveries." - Luis Bunuel

"The function of vice is to keep virtue within reasonable bounds." - Samuel Butler

"Half the vices which the world condemns most loudly have seeds of good in them and require moderated use rather than total abstinence." - Samuel Butler

See more famous quotes about Vice

Saunders Veterinary Dictionary:

vice

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Habitual abnormal behavior of a destructive kind. It is most common in horses, pigs and chickens but may occur in any species if the animals are kept in confined spaces. See crib-biting, weaving, pica, tail biting, ear sucking, toe picking.

Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Vice

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For other uses, see Vice (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2010)

Children are the Victims of Adult Vices, a group of sculptures by Mikhail Chemiakin in Moscow.

Vice is a practice or a behavior or habit considered immoral, depraved, or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit. Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption. The modern English term that best captures its original meaning is the word vicious, which means "full of vice". In this sense, the word vice comes from the Latin word vitium, meaning "failing or defect". Vice is the opposite of virtue.

Contents

1 Law enforcement
2 Religion
3 Emotions as vices
4 See also
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Law enforcement

Depending on the country or jurisdiction, vice crimes may or may not be treated as a separate category in the criminal codes. Even in jurisdictions where vice is not explicitly delineated in the legal code, the term vice is often used in law enforcement and judicial systems as an umbrella for crimes involving activities that are considered inherently immoral, regardless of the legality or objective harm involved.

In the United Kingdom, the term vice is commonly used in law and law enforcement to refer to criminal offenses related to prostitution and pornography.^[1] In the United States, the term is also used to refer to crimes related to gambling, alcohol, and drugs.^[2]

Religion

Buddhism

In the Sarvastivadin tradition of Buddhism, there are 108 defilements, or vices, which are prohibited. These are subdivided into 10 bonds and 98 proclivities.^[3] The 10 bonds are the following:^[3]

Absence of shame
Absence of embarrassment
Jealousy
Parsimony
Remorse
Drowsiness
Distraction
Torpor
Anger
Concealment of wrongdoing

Islam

The Qu'ran and many other Islamic religious writings provide prohibitions against acts that are seen as immoral.

Ibn abi Dunya, a 9th-century scholar and tutor to the caliphs, described seven censures (prohibitions against vices) in his writings:^[4]

Worldliness
Ire
Envy
Slander
Obscenity
Intoxicants
Instruments of pleasure

Christianity

Main article: Christian ethics

Virtues fighting vices, stained glass window (14th century) in the Niederhaslach Church

Christians believe there are two kinds of vice:^{[citation needed]}

Vices that come from the physical organism as instincts, which can become perverse (such as lust)
Vices that come from false idolatry in the spiritual realm

The first kind of vice, though sinful, is believed less serious than the second. Vices recognized as spiritual by Christians include blasphemy (holiness betrayed), apostasy (faith betrayed), despair (hope betrayed), hatred (love betrayed), and indifference (scripturally, a "hardened heart"). Christian theologians have reasoned that the most destructive vice equates to a certain type of pride or the complete idolatry of the self. It is argued that through this vice, which is essentially competitive, all the worst evils come into being. In Judeo-Christian creeds, it originally led to the Fall of Man, and, as a purely diabolical spiritual vice, it outweighs anything else often condemned by the Church.

Roman Catholicism

The Roman Catholic Church distinguishes between vice, which is a habit inclining one to sin, and the sin itself, which is an individual morally wrong act. Note that in Roman Catholicism, the word "sin" also refers to the state that befalls one upon committing a morally wrong act. In this section, the word always means the sinful act. It is the sin, and not the vice, that deprives one of God's sanctifying grace and renders one deserving of God's punishment. Thomas Aquinas taught that "absolutely speaking, the sin surpasses the vice in wickedness".^[5] On the other hand, even after a person's sins have been forgiven, the underlying habit (the vice) may remain. Just as vice was created in the first place by repeatedly yielding to the temptation to sin, so vice may be removed only by repeatedly resisting temptation and performing virtuous acts; the more entrenched the vice, the more time and effort needed to remove it. Saint Thomas Aquinas says that following rehabilitation and the acquisition of virtues, the vice does not persist as a habit, but rather as a mere disposition, and one that is in the process of being eliminated.

Dante's seven deadly vices

The poet Dante Alighieri listed the following seven deadly vices associating them structurally^[6] as flaws in the soul's inherent capacity for goodness as made in the Divine Image yet perverted by the Fall:

Pride or vanity — an excessive love of the self (holding the self outside of its proper position regarding God or fellows; Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, pride is referred to as superbia.
Envy or jealousy — resentment of others for their possessions (Dante: "love of one's own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, envy is referred to as invidia.
Wrath or anger — feelings of hatred, revenge or denial, as well as punitive desires outside of justice (Dante's description was "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, wrath is referred to as ira.

which primitive vices tempt astray by increasingly perverting the proper purpose of charity. directing it inwards leading to a disorded navel-gazing preoccupation with personal goods in isolation absent proper harmonious relations leading to violent disruption of balance with others

Sloth or laziness — idleness and wastefulness of time or other allotted resources. Laziness is condemned because it results in others having to work harder; also, useful work will not be done. Sloth is referred to in Latin as accidie or acedia.

which vice tempts a self-aware soul to be too easily satisfied, thwarting charity's purpose as insufficiently perceptible within the soul itself or abjectly indifferent in relationship with the needs of others and their satisfaction, an escalation in evil, more odious than the passion of hate

Avarice (covetousness, greed) — a desire to possess more than one has need or use for (or according to Dante, "excessive love of money and power"). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, avarice is referred to as avaritia.
Gluttony — overindulgence in food, drink or intoxicants, or misplaced desire of food as a pleasure for its sensuality ("excessive love of pleasure" was Dante's rendering). In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, gluttony is referred to as gula.
Lust — excessive sexual desire. Dante's criterion was that "lust detracts from true love". In the Latin lists of the Seven Deadly Sins, lust is referred to as luxuria.

which vices tempt cultivated souls in their ability to direct charity's proper purpose to good things or actions, by indulging excess. Thus in Dante's estimation the soul's detachment from sensual appetites become the vices most difficult to tame, urges not as easily curbed by mere good manners since inflamed via appropriate use rather than inappropriate misuse. Hence conventional respect for the ninth and tenth commandments against coveting and social customs that encourage custody of the eyes and ears become prudent adjuncts to training against vice.

The first three terraces of purgatory expiate the sins which can be considered to arise from love perverted, that is, sins which arise from the heart of the sinner being set upon something which is wrong in the eyes of God. Those being purged here must have their love set upon the right path. The fourth terrace of purgatory expiates the sins which can be considered to arise from love defective, that is, love which, although directed towards the correct subjects is too weak to drive the sinner to act as they should. Those being purged here must have their love strengthened so as to drive them correctly. The fifth, sixth and seventh terraces of purgatory expiate the sins which can be considered to arise from love excessive, that is, love which although directed towards ends which God considers good is directed towards them too much for the sinner to gain bliss from them, and also so that the sinner is distracted from the love of other things of which god approves. Their love must be cooled to a more sensible level.

Emotions as vices

Marc Jackson in his book Emotion and Psyche puts forward a new development of what the vices are. He identifies the vices as what he calls the evil emotions "The fourth group consisting of hate, greed, vanity, envy and cruelty is evil"^[7] These vices differ from more traditional accounts of vice because they are not character traits expressed by action but emotions that are felt. These emotional vices are to be overcome not through suppression but through feeling and cultivating the opposite virtues, as Jackson writes here: "This will diminish the amount of evil by building up the amount of good such that good will become more active and the evil will not have room to be so active, and thus will diminish"^[8]

Notes

^ http://www.met.police.uk/co/clubs_and_vice/index.htm
^ Hess (2008), p. 209.
^ ^a ^b Hirakawa (1998), p. 202.
^ Goodman (2005), p. 37.
^ Entry for vice at NewAdvent.org online Catholic Encyclopedia.
^ http://www.wolfram.demon.co.uk/purgatory4.gif
^ Jackson, Marc (2010). Emotion and Psyche. Ropley: O-books. pp. 12. ISBN 9781846943782.
^ Jackson, Marc (2010). Emotion and Psyche. Ropley: O-books. pp. 60. ISBN 9781846943782.

All etymologies are according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

References

Aristotle, trans. H. Rackman. Virtues and Vices, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992. vol. 285.
Goodman, Lenn E. (2005). Islamic Humanism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195189148. http://books.google.com/books?id=qoFKjfy4eoYC.
Hess, Kären M.; Orthmann, Christine Hess (2008). Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. ISBN 978-0-495-39090-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=CdxKm_ypYyMC.
Hirakawa, Akira; Groner, Paul (1998). A history of Indian Buddhism: from Śākyamuni to early Mahāyāna. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-8120809550. http://books.google.com/books?id=XjjwjC7rcOYC.
Newhauser, Richard, ed. In the Garden of Evil: The Vices and Culture in the Middle Ages. Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto 2005. ISBN 0-88844-818-X

External links

A bilingual Magazine dedicated to Vices and Addictions

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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Translations:

Vice

Top

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - last, umoralitet, fejl, usædelighed

idioms:

vice ring prostitutionsliga
vice squad sædelighedsafdelingen

2.
n. - skruestik

3.
prep. - vice-, stedfortrædende

idioms:

vice president vicedirektør, vicepræsident

4.
n. - vice

idioms:

vice versa omvendt

Nederlands (Dutch)
ontucht, ondeugd, bankschroef, slechtheid, zwakte, gebrek/smet, lichamelijke afwijking, pias, afwijkend gedrag in huisdier, vice-, in plaats van, liever dan, (in een bankschroef) vastzetten (ook figuurlijk)

Français (French)
1.
n. - vice, faiblesse

idioms:

vice ring milieu, pègre
vice squad brigade des m¯urs

2.
n. - (Tech) étau

3.
prep. - à la place de, en remplacement de

idioms:

vice president vice-président

4.
n. - diminutif de vice-président/vice-amiral etc

idioms:

vice versa vice versa

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Laster, Fehler, Unart

idioms:

vice ring Verbrecherbande, die illegale Prostitution organisiert
vice squad Sittenpolizei

2.
n. - Schraubstock

3.
prep. - an Stelle von

idioms:

vice president Vizepräsident

4.
n. - (ugs.) Vize

idioms:

vice versa umgekehrt

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - διαστροφή, βίτσιο, ακολασία, διαφθορά, μέγγενη, αμάρτημα, ελάττωμα, κουσούρι
v. - σφίγγω
prep. - αντί (του), υπό
pref. - αντί-, υπό-

idioms:

vice president αντιπρόεδρος
vice ring οργάνωση/δίκτυο πορνείας
vice squad (αστυνομική) Υπηρεσία/Τμήμα Ηθών
vice versa (και) αντιστρόφως, και τανάπαλιν

Italiano (Italian)
difetto, vizio, morsa

idioms:

vice president vicepresidente
vice ring banda criminale
vice squad la buoncostume
vice versa viceversa

Português (Portuguese)
n. - vício (m), imoralidade (f), vice- (título) (coloq.)
v. - prender no torno
prep. - em vez de
pref. - vice

idioms:

vice president vice-presidente
vice ring quadrilha
vice squad delegacia de costumes
vice versa vice-versa

Русский (Russian)
порок, недостаток, безнравственность, тиски

idioms:

vice president вице-президент
vice ring группа преступников, контролирующих работу проституток
vice squad подразделение полиции,зани- мающееся проститутками,торговцами наркотиками
vice versa наоборот

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - vicio, defecto, comportamiento inmoral

idioms:

vice ring red de corrupción
vice squad brigada contra el vicio

2.
n. - torno o tornillo de banco

3.
prep. - como sustituto de, en lugar de, en vez de

idioms:

vice president vicepresidente

4.
n. - vicepresidente, vicealmirante

idioms:

vice versa viceversa

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - last, fel, olat, skruvstäd
v. - sätta i ett skruvstäd
prep. - i stället för
pref. - vice

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 恶习, 坏脾气, 恶行

idioms:

vice president 副董事长, 副院长, 副行长
vice ring 卖淫团体
vice squad 刑警队
vice versa 反之亦然

2. 恶习, 坏脾气, 恶行

3. 代替

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
n. - 惡習, 壞脾氣, 惡行

idioms:

vice president 副董事長, 副院長, 副行長
vice ring 賣淫團體
vice squad 刑警隊
vice versa 反之亦然

2.
n. - 惡習, 壞脾氣, 惡行

3.
prep. - 代替

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 악덕, 결함, 성적 부도덕 행위

2.
n. - 바이스

3.
prep. - ~의 대신으로, ~의 대리로서

4.
n. - vice-president (부대통령), vice-admiral (부제독)

idioms:

vice versa 반대로, 역도 또한 같음

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 悪徳, 不道徳, 悪徳行為, 悪習, 欠点, 万力
prep. - 代わりに, 代理として

idioms:

vice president 副大統領, 副頭取, 副社長
vice ring やくざ連中
vice squad 風俗犯罪取締班
vice versa 逆に, 反対に, 逆もまた同じ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) فساد, رذيله, نقصان, عيب, حقد, ملقط (حرف جر) بدلا من, خلفا ل‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רשעות, שחיתות, הרגל רע, מידה מגונה, פשיעה, חיסרון, פגם‬
n. - ‮מלחציים‬
prep. - ‮ממלא-מקום‬
n. - ‮(קיצור) סגן הנשיא, סגן-אדמירל, סגן יו"ר‬
vice versa - ‮להיפך‬

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