vice

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as in prostitution
the practice of engaging in sexual activities for money a seedy section of the city where vice is rampant and very much out in the open

Synonyms & Similar Words

Synonym Chooser

How does the noun vice contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of vice are crime, offense, scandal, and sin. While all these words mean "a transgression of law," vice applies to a habit or practice that degrades or corrupts.

regarded gambling as a vice

When would crime be a good substitute for vice?

The meanings of crime and vice largely overlap; however, crime implies a serious offense punishable by the law of the state.

the crime of murder

When is it sensible to use offense instead of vice?

While in some cases nearly identical to vice, offense applies to the infraction of any law, rule, or code.

at that school no offense went unpunished

When could scandal be used to replace vice?

The words scandal and vice can be used in similar contexts, but scandal applies to an offense that outrages the public conscience.

a career ruined by a sex scandal

In what contexts can sin take the place of vice?

In some situations, the words sin and vice are roughly equivalent. However, sin implies an offense against moral or religious law.

the sin of blasphemy

Examples Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for vice
Noun
  • In 2016, parliament impeached Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female president, over a corruption scandal.
    Kim Tong-Hyung, Chicago Tribune, 14 Dec. 2024
  • The only other president to be successfully impeached was Park Geun-hye, a conservative who left office in 2017 and was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a corruption scandal involving major corporations and the daughter of a cult leader.
    Max Kim, Los Angeles Times, 14 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • The biggest risks to the expansion are high inflation and global economic weakness, with a tie for third between the incoming administration’s fiscal policies and the size of the U.S. deficit.
    Steve Liesman, CNBC, 17 Dec. 2024
  • But the response to four years of weakness must not be four years of isolation.
    Mitch McConnell, Foreign Affairs, 16 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • The men face charges of solicitation of prostitution, a felony in Texas punishable with up two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
    Sarah Bahari, Dallas News, 5 Apr. 2023
  • Street prostitution has been an issue on Capp Street in the Mission District for decades.
    Fifth & Mission Podcast, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Feb. 2023
Noun
  • The sins of the Franks and their rulers had made the land fertile for Wiggo and his friends.
    Matthew Gabriele, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Dec. 2024
  • Perhaps the biggest sin of them all, however, is just how absolutely dull and yawn-inducing Dune: Prophecy is.
    Erik Kain, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • So in addition to a random chance and bad infrastructure design causing this collision and human driver being at fault, in addition to all of that, the company then did not give all of the information to investigators after the crash.
    Michael Calore, WIRED, 19 Dec. 2024
  • That includes being recast through no fault of your own.
    Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 19 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • The show felt joyously anarchic and kind of evil at the same time.
    Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 19 Dec. 2024
  • As the film’s wealthy Pennsylvania industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren, Pearce creates a psychologically penetrating portrait of a man who is by turns generous and predatory, inquisitive and closed off, someone who ultimately reveals himself to be capable of true evil.
    Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 19 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • Meanwhile, the Knicks are left to regroup, knowing that the growing pains of integrating major offseason additions are part of the process — but also recognizing the urgency to address their shortcomings.
    Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 12 Dec. 2024
  • My concern is that few politicians recognize the creeping financial and credibility risks with this impasse, and neither is there much recognition of the need to update the constitution and political process given the shortcomings that this debacle has highlighted.
    Mike O'Sullivan, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • The history of medicine is too littered with incompetence and immorality to believe that doctors have always been worthy of this status.
    Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 12 Dec. 2024
  • And if that doesn’t work, whoever Trump chooses instead of Gaetz will almost certainly be just as destructive, if less flamboyant in his immorality and lust for attention.
    Michelle Goldberg, The Mercury News, 19 Nov. 2024
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Thesaurus Entries Near vice

Cite this Entry

“Vice.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vice. Accessed 26 Dec. 2024.

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