How to use vicious in a sentence
40 example sentences · adjective
Vicious means violent, destructive and cruel. Example: “When caught, he would often cop a vicious blow from his father.”
Examples of vicious by meaning
adjectiveSavage and aggressive.
- He had always been remarkably immune from such little ailments, and had only once in his life been ill, of a vicious pneumonia long ago at school.1922, Michael Arlen, “2/9/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
adjectivePertaining to vice; characterised by immorality or depravity.
- We may so seize on vertue, that if we embrace it with an over-greedy and violent desire, it may become vicious., Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.195
More sentences with vicious
- When caught, he would often cop a vicious blow from his father.From the entry cop
- There was a vicious rumour that the final was rigged, as the defense seemed useless.From the entry rigged
- He was laid low by a vicious blow to the head.From the entry lay low
- It was vicious; he went for the jugular.From the entry jugular
- The fighter looked harmlessly punch drunk, but he was only faking and suddenly threw a vicious, skillful blow.From the entry punch drunk
- He stepped on to the vicious man.From the entry step on
- The vicious tackle corked his leg.From the entry cork
- Trump said he would not tell a “vicious joke” about the chief justice, who was present.2026 February 20, Adam Liptak, “The Supreme Court’s Declaration of Independence”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York…. From the entry kiss someone's ass
- As a vicious hysteric, Bertha Mason’s madness is precipitated by an erotomaniacal response.2024, Nicole C. Dittmer, Monstrous Women and Ecofeminism in the Victorian Gothic, 1837–1871, Rowman & Littlefield, page 86. From the entry erotomaniacal
- It was heartbreaking to see her subject to such vicious attacks.'2024 August 19, Charlotte Karp, “Brittany Higgins trial: Eerie cyber army defending Linda Reynolds pops up online - and they're all saying…. From the entry Donnette
- There are only months left to save our railway from a vicious downward spiral.2022 January 12, Sir Michael Holden, “Reform of the workforce or death by a thousand cuts?”, in RAIL, number 948, page 25. From the entry death by a thousand cuts
- We have a rich cultural gallery of competing candidates for the titles bad, vicious, evil, worst.2019, Rachel Barney, “Becoming Bad: Aristotle on Vice and Moral Habituation”, in Victor Caston, editor, Oxford Studies in Ancient…. From the entry brutish
- They're hard, often brutal, sometimes vicious to their wives, their 'drabbletails' (girlfriends), and one another.2018, Clancy Sigal, The London Lover: My Weekend that Lasted Thirty Years. From the entry drabble-tail
- This vicious cycle, "the loneliness loop," has been studied by economists for more than a decade.2013 August 7, Derek Thompson, “The Loneliness Loop: Why Feeling Sad Makes Us Shop and Shopping Makes Us Sad”, in The Atlantic. From the entry retail therapy
- Keythongs are somewhat larger, considerably faster and far more vicious than their female counterparts.2012, Timothy Groves, “[The Creatures] Keythong”, in The Book of Creatures, →ISBN, page 115. From the entry keythong
- A vicious Mafia threat intended to cower him—but the chief doesn't cower.2010, Marilyn Brown Oden, The Dead Saint. From the entry cower
- Our trepidation at being savaged by a vicious pig dog was soon allayed, however.2009, Evan McHugh, Birdsville, ReadHowYouWant, published 2011, page 139. From the entry sooky
- Thus a vicious circle is established: the uppers offer participation, and the lowers, feeling persecuted, withdraw.1993, Larry Hirschhorn, Carole K. Barnett, The Psychodynamics of Organizations. From the entry upper
- Black mages, most of them, vicious with hatred of the Sun’s son.1988, Judith Tarr, A Fall of Princes (Avaryan Rising; 3), New York, N.Y.: TOR, →ISBN, page 318. From the entry black mage
- In the summer, 90 deg. was common, and the attacks of the vicious black-fly were devastating.1959 March, “New railways in Quebec”, in Railway Magazine, page 202. From the entry black fly
- He was a vicious male gossip, insatiably curious and vindictive without malice.1952, John Steinbeck, chapter 48, in East of Eden, London: Heinemann, page 456. From the entry gossip
- Defecalgesiophobia―The dread of defecation because of pain is the starting point in the vicious circle of hemorrhoids.1936, The Canadian Medical Association Journal. From the entry defecalgesiophobia
- It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious.1935, Smedley Butler, War Is a Racket, page 1 & 7. From the entry war
- Its light, humorous, unmoralizing attitude could not entirely temper the vicious tone of the man it portrayed.1931, A. I. Tobin, Elmer Gertz, Frank Harris: A Study in Black and White, page 190. From the entry unmoralizing
- Good morra, Willie," says he, with the same old vicious smile.1904, Seumas MacManus, In Chimney Corners: Merry Tales of Irish Folk Lore. From the entry mismove
- There is no weapon so effective as mockery and Gillray's vicious caricatures did more to demythologise Napoleon than anything else.2021, Otto English, Fake History, page 273. From the entry demythologise
- She also has a vicious smile, a cutting wit and sailor’s mouth like a drag queen possessed — maybe actually possessed.2021 September 17, Erik Piepenburg, “Five Horror Movies to Stream Now”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company…. From the entry sailor's mouth
- And before you know it, you've exploded vicious rhetoric on some poor Bethyl shipper on Tumblr who never saw it coming.2016, Kathleen Smith, The Fangirl Life: A Guide to All the Feels and Learning How to Deal, unnumbered page. From the entry Bethyl
- This vicious and unjust slur is handed down from on high by a back-slapping quangocracy that's "in agreement about everything".2014 May 22, Will Self, “Selfish, Whining Monkeys by Rod Liddle review – why is he so angry?”, in The Guardian. From the entry quangocracy
- The vicious needles pincushioned my hands and the tree wobbled precariously as I scrabbled for a pain-free hold.2013, Pippa Wright, The Foster Husband, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, pages 87–88. From the entry pincushion
- Merwolf: On full moons, this creature transforms into a vicious wolf with the lower body of a fish.2013, Frank Lesser, Sad Monsters: Growling on the Outside, Crying on the Inside, →ISBN. From the entry merwolf
- The “98 MPH” sign used to be on a set of particularly vicious whoops at one of John's favorite racetracks.2009, Lee Klancher, Kevin Cameron, Motorcycle Dream Garages, page 184. From the entry whoop
- When the champion landed a vicious left-handed kidney punch early in the fourth, Azzaoui crumpled to the canvas.2007 November 4, “Awesome Calzaghe sets sights on Hopkins superfight”, in London Evening Standard, UK, retrieved 06 Jan 2014. From the entry kidney punch
- To pass time, Nicole (Tammy Lynn Michaels), the most vicious of the populars, decides they should play a little game.2002, Stephen Tropiano, The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV, Hal Leonard Corporation, →ISBN. From the entry popular
- Wetting the skin is a vicious cycle.2000, Deborah A. Cohen, Just Get Me Through This!: The Practical Guide to Breast Cancer. From the entry overshower
- The Western movies, of course, are not cultural visions, but the vicious encounters with the antiselves of civilization, the invented savage.1999, Gerald R. Vizenor, Manifest Manners: Narratives on Postindian Survivance, page 7. From the entry antiself
- The vicious cycle of repression was upgeared and intensified.1987, Jasawanta Siṅgha Kam̆wala, The Other Zafarnamah. From the entry upgear
- Out from the odex came a fang-gaping ilps, a vicious manxome monster which Governor Troop demolished with five well-placed immaculately-timed questions.1987, Hugh Cook, The Wordsmiths and the Warguild (Chronicles of an Age of Darkness), Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire: Colin Smythe, →ISBN…. From the entry manxome
Meaning of vicious
- adjective Violent, destructive and cruel.
- adjective Savage and aggressive.
- adjective Pertaining to vice; characterised by immorality or depravity.
Questions about vicious in a sentence
- How do you use vicious in a sentence?
- Vicious is used as an adjective. For example: “When caught, he would often cop a vicious blow from his father.”
- What is a short sentence with vicious?
- “The vicious tackle corked his leg.”
- What does vicious mean?
- Vicious means violent, destructive and cruel.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: vicious (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use vicious in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/vicious. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
