vice

1 immoral conduct or practices harmful or offensive to society <that section of the city is legendary for crime and vice> Synonyms corruption, debauchery, depravity, immorality, iniquitousness, iniquity, libertinage, libertinism, licentiousness, profligacy, sin Related Words bad, badness, blackness, evil, evildoing, ill, turpitude, villainy, wickedness, wrong; atrociousness, evilness, heinousness, sinfulness, unscrupulousness, viciousness, vileness, villainousness; devilry (or deviltry), fiendishness; corruptness, debasement, degeneracy, degeneration, depravedness, dissoluteness, dissolution; indecency, lasciviousness, lechery, lewdness, looseness, perversion, pervertedness, wantonness; abomination, anathema, taboo (also tabu); criminality, reprehensibleness; baseness, despicableness, dirtiness, lowness, meanness; lousiness, miserableness, wretchedness Near Antonyms good, right; honesty, honor, integrity, legitimacy, probity, rectitude, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, uprightness; goodness, righteousness, virtuousness; blamelessness; chastity, innocence, perfection, pureness, purity, spotlessness; cleanness, correctness, decency, decorousness, propriety, rightness, seemliness Antonyms morality, virtue

2 a defect in character <curiosity in children is not a vice, but something to be encouraged> Synonyms demerit, dereliction, failing, foible, frailty, shortcoming, sin, fault, want, weaknessRelated Words blot, spot, stain; blemish, deficiency, flaw, imperfection, minus, nit; Achilles' heel, soft spot; corruption, depravity, evil, immorality, sinfulness, wickednessNear Antonyms excellence, perfection; goodness, integrity, morality, probity, rectitude, righteousnessAntonyms merit, virtue

3 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 harlotry, prostitution, whoredomRelated Words demimonde; white slavery