What is the difference between vice and virtue?
vice | virtue | Antonyms |
A bad habit.
(legal) Any of various crimes related (depending on jurisdiction) to prostitution, pornography, gambling, alcohol, or drugs.
A defect in the temper or behaviour of a horse, such as to make the animal dangerous, to injure its health, or to diminish its usefulness.
* From the case of Scholefield v. Robb (1839).
A mechanical screw apparatus used for clamping or holding (also spelled vise).
A tool for drawing lead into cames, or flat grooved rods, for casements.
(obsolete) A grip or grasp.
* 1597 , , II. I. 22:
To hold or squeeze with a vice, or as if with a vice.
* 1610 , , I. ii. 416:
* De Quincey
in place of; subordinate to; designating a person below another in rank
instead of, in place of
(obsolete) The inherent power of a god, or other supernatural being.
The inherent power or efficacy of something (now only in phrases).
* 2011 , "The autumn of the patriarchs", The Economist , 17 Feb 2011:
(uncountable) Accordance with moral principles; conformity of behaviour or thought with the strictures of morality; good moral conduct.
* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , XV.1:
A particular manifestation of moral excellence in a person; an admirable quality.
* 1766 , Laurence Sterne, Sermon XLIV:
Specifically, each of several qualities held to be particularly important, including the four cardinal virtues, the three theological virtues, or the seven virtues opposed to the seven deadly sins.
* 1813 , John Fleetwood, The Life of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ :
An inherently advantageous or excellent quality of something or someone; a favourable point, an advantage.
* 1719 , :
* 2011 , The Guardian , Letter, 14 Mar 2011
A creature embodying divine power, specifically one of the orders of heavenly beings, traditionally ranked above angels and below archangels.
* 1667 , John Milton, Paradise Lost , Book X:
(uncountable) Specifically, moral conduct in sexual behaviour, especially of women; chastity.
* 1813 , Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice :
Virtue is an antonym of vice.
Vice is an antonym of virtue.
In context|obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between vice and virtue
is that vice is (obsolete) a grip or grasp while virtue is (obsolete) the inherent power of a god, or other supernatural being.As nouns the difference between vice and virtue
is that vice is a bad habit or vice can be a mechanical screw apparatus used for clamping or holding (also spelled vise) while virtue is (obsolete) the inherent power of a god, or other supernatural being.As a verb vice
is to hold or squeeze with a vice, or as if with a vice.As a adjective vice
is in place of; subordinate to; designating a person below another in rank.As a preposition vice
is instead of, in place of.vice
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl), from (etyl), from (etyl) .Noun
(en noun)- Smoking is a vice , not a virtue.
Antonyms
* (bad habit) virtueDerived terms
* vice squadSee also
* habitEtymology 2
From (etyl) ; akin to English withy.Alternative forms
* vise (US)Noun
(en noun)- Fang. An I but fist him once; an a’ come but within my vice ,–
Verb
(vic)- Camillo. As he had seen’t, or been an instrument / To vice you to't, that you have touched his queen / Forbiddenly
- The coachman's hand was viced between his upper and lower thigh.
Etymology 3
From (etyl) , ablative form of vicis.Adjective
vice (no comparative or superlative)- vice president
- vice admiral
Derived terms
* vice admiral * vice governor * vice mayor * vice presidentPreposition
(head)- A. B. was appointed postmaster vice C. D. resigned.
virtue
English
(wikipedia virtue)Alternative forms
* vertue (archaic)Noun
- many Egyptians still worry that the Brotherhood, by virtue of discipline and experience, would hold an unfair advantage if elections were held too soon.
- There are a set of religious, or rather moral, writers, who teach that virtue is the certain road to happiness, and vice to misery, in this world.
- Some men are modest, and seem to take pains to hide their virtues ; and, from a natural distance and reserve in their tempers, scarce suffer their good qualities to be known [...].
- The divine virtues of truth and equity are the only bands of friendship, the only supports of society.
- There were divers other plants, which I had no notion of or understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtues of their own, which I could not find out.
- One virtue of the present coalition government's attack on access to education could be to reopen the questions raised so pertinently by Robinson in the 1960s [...].
- Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues , Powers; / For in possession such, not only of right, / I call ye, and declare ye now [...].
- though she did not suppose Lydia to be deliberately engaging in an elopement without the intention of marriage, she had no difficulty in believing that neither her virtue nor her understanding would preserve her from falling an easy prey.