viciousness
Sheer brutal malice
Viciousness is the quality of being deliberately cruel or violent.
It describes behavior intended to cause harm or suffering: The viciousness of the attack shocked even seasoned investigators.
The word applies to verbal cruelty as readily as physical: She was unprepared for the viciousness of the online comments.
Viciousness can also describe intensity without moral dimension: the viciousness of the storm.
Extreme, violent cruelty
- brutishnessCrude, animal-like cruelty
- beastlinessCruel or disgusting conduct
- wildnessUntamed, uncontrolled state
- aggressionHostile or attacking behavior
fangs · claws · attack · maul · snarl · bite · predatory · feral
Savage, merciless behavior
- sadismPleasure from inflicting pain
- maliceIntent to cause harm
- spitePetty malicious intent
- heartlessnessLack of compassion
callousness · cold-bloodedness · mercilessness · pitilessness · nastiness · meanness · vindictiveness · spitefulness
Intent to cause harm
- hatredIntense hostile aversion
- enmityBitter, lasting ill will
- hostilityAntagonistic disposition toward others
- venomInjected animal poison
bitterness · ill-will · animosity · resentment · antagonism · malignity · malignancy · wickedness
Intensity of sternness
- extremityOutermost part or limit
- harshnessUnsparing quality or manner
- relentlessnessUnstoppable persistence
- vehemenceForceful emotional passion
forcefulness · fury · wrath · virulence · acuteness · fierceness · sharpness · bitterness
savagery
Extreme, violent cruelty
- brutishnessCrude, animal-like cruelty
- beastlinessCruel or disgusting conduct
- wildnessUntamed, uncontrolled state
aggression · fangs · claws · attack · maul · snarl · bite · predatory · feral · untamed
brutality
Savage, merciless behavior
heartlessness · callousness · cold-bloodedness · mercilessness · pitilessness · nastiness · meanness · vindictiveness · spitefulness · torment
malice
Intent to cause harm
- hatredIntense hostile aversion
- enmityBitter, lasting ill will
- hostilityAntagonistic disposition toward others
venom · bitterness · ill-will · animosity · resentment · antagonism · malignity · malignancy · wickedness · evil
severity
Intensity of sternness
- extremityOutermost part or limit
- harshnessUnsparing quality or manner
- relentlessnessUnstoppable persistence
vehemence · forcefulness · fury · wrath · virulence · acuteness · fierceness · sharpness · bitterness · potency
- aggressionhostility, violence, attack, fight, combativeness
- dangersdanger, peril, hazard, risk, menace
- vicesgreed, envy, lust, gluttony, vanity
- crueltycruelty, brutality, inhumanity, ruthlessness, heartlessness
- malevolencemalevolence, cruelty, malice, spite, meanness
- malicemalice, ill will, spite, malevolence, malignity
viciousnesskindness
Considerate, caring disposition
compassion · benevolence · goodness · virtue · kindheartedness
viciousnessgentleness
Soft, kind demeanor
tenderness · mildness · softness · sweetness · tenderheartedness
viciousnessharmlessness
Inability to cause damage
innocuousness · mildness · moderateness · restraint · temperance
vice, vicious, viciously, vitiate, vicelike, viceless, vitiation