Words / B2

VYS/vaɪs/

Vice is immoral or criminal behaviour, a bad habit, or a clamp for holding work: vice offences; a secret vice. Crime is wider; sin is religious. The booklet mapped vice offences separately from theft. Mix-up: visa is travel permission; vice versa means the other way round. Do not write vice for “almost” (that is virtually).

Meaning

Immoral or criminal behaviour; also a bad habit, or a tool for holding things.

Examples

• “The crime unit mapped vice offences separately from theft in the booklet.”
• “Tighten the vice before you saw the timber, which is the workshop sense.”

Good to know

vice offences; a vice of + gerund; a bench vice. Wider: crime. Trap: visa / vice versa. Citizenship and DT. Crime, habit, or clamp.

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