What does vice mean?
In everyday use, vice is a formal word for a moral fault or habitual form of bad behaviour. It often suggests a quality associated with corruption, self-indulgence, or a failure of character, and it commonly appears in moral contrasts such as vice and virtue. Because vice can imply both an individual wrongdoing and a broader corrupting tendency, it is often more emphatic than the neutral word fault. The word also has specialized uses: in British English, a vice is a tool with two jaws that grips a workpiece securely, and as a rare verb it means to fasten or hold something in such a tool. In the familiar phrase vice versa, vice belongs to a separate Latin origin and means “in place of” or “with the former turned the other way.” Although vice can be harsh, it is useful in formal discussion because it names a persistent moral shortcoming rather than a single accidental mistake.
A moral fault or bad habit, especially one regarded as habitual and contrary to virtue; more specifically, a clamping tool for holding an object securely.
"The speech condemned the greed and dishonesty he regarded as vices of public life."
The moral sense is the dominant modern use. The clamping-tool sense is chiefly British, and vise is more common in American English.
To hold, fasten, or secure something in a vice.
"The technician viced the component and adjusted its position."
Rare and chiefly technical; the spelling vise is more common in American English.
The regular plural of the noun; it normally refers to multiple moral faults or bad habits.
"The play examines the vices of the court."
Vice has a double life: it can describe immorality, or a British-spelled tool for gripping a pipe.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of vice
The principal word entered Middle English through Old French vice, ultimately from Latin vitium, meaning “fault,” “defect,” or “blemish.” Its moral sense developed from this older general sense of fault or deficiency. The same Latin root underlies forms such as vicious and vitiate. The word in vice versa is etymologically separate, continuing Latin vicis, meaning “turn” or “change.”
Related word forms
How vice is actually used
In its moral sense, vice is generally more formal than wrongdoing and carries a distinctly judgmental or literary tone. The tool sense is chiefly British, whereas vise is more common in American English. The verb is rare and chiefly technical.
Easily confused with vice
Vice usually refers to a moral fault in its most common sense, whereas vise is the spelling most common in American English for a tool that grips an object securely.