Meanings
plural viciousnesses
- countableuncountableThe desire to cause harm to others; extreme cruelty.
1 more example
“It is hard. And there is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting. I was not expecting the intensity of this experience, but this isn’t supposed to be easy. My father and this administration intends to be transformative, and we want to do big, bold things and we’re looking to change the status quo. So I didn’t expect it to be easy. I think some of the distractions and some of the ferocity was — I was a little blindsided by on a personal level,” she said.
2017 June 12, Betsy Klein, quoting Ivanka Trump, “Ivanka Trump: ‘There is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting’”, in CNN, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2017
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe trait of extreme cruelty
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishviciousnesse
- Middle Englishviciousnesse
- Englishviciousness
Inherited from Middle English viciousnesse; equivalent to vicious + -ness.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian порочност
- порочност (poročnost)the characteristic of being vicious
Chinese Mandarin 邪恶, 不道德
- 邪恶 (xié'è)the characteristic of being vicious
- 不道德 (bùdàodé)the characteristic of being vicious
- 恶意 (èyì)the desire to cause harm to others; extreme cruelty
- 险恶 (xiǎn'è)the desire to cause harm to others; extreme cruelty
Esperanto brutaleco, maliceco
- brutalecothe characteristic of being vicious
- malicecothe desire to cause harm to others; extreme cruelty
Spanish saña
- sañathe desire to cause harm to others; extreme cruelty
Cite this entry
viciousness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viciousness
“viciousness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viciousness. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “viciousness,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/viciousness.
Source: viciousness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.