vicious may directly oppose virtuous in implying moral depravity, or may connote malignancy, cruelty, or destructive violence.
a vicious gangster
villainous applies to any evil, depraved, or vile conduct or characteristic.
a villainous assault
iniquitous implies absence of all signs of justice or fairness.
an iniquitous system of taxation
nefarious suggests flagrant breaching of time-honored laws and traditions of conduct.
the nefarious rackets of organized crime
corrupt stresses a loss of moral integrity or probity causing betrayal of principle or sworn obligations.
city hall was rife with corrupt politicians
degenerate suggests having sunk to an especially vicious or enervated condition.
a degenerate regime propped up by foreign powers
Example Sentences
zero tolerance at the academy for cheating and other iniquitous practices
Recent Examples on the WebCorporate America and conservatives consider the very idea of the government’s deciding what to fund and what not to fund iniquitous. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2021 Similar makeovers have been undertaken on behalf of such iniquitous figures as Blackbeard, Henry VIII, Robespierre and the Marquis de Sade. Joe Queenan, WSJ, 10 June 2021 And there's a broader drive in American culture to expose iniquitous power relations and reevaluate revered historical figures. Michelle Goldberg, Star Tribune, 21 May 2021 On January 28, 2020, a lawsuit was filed in federal court in Brooklyn, New York under which 80 people came forward with yet another iniquitous side of NXIVM. Sarah Midkiff, refinery29.com, 28 Oct. 2020 His views on the meaning of the Constitution were considered by some of the political class to be iniquitous. Leslie Southwick, National Review, 17 Sep. 2019 Cosmopolitanism — the idea of moral community among human beings, regardless of social and political affiliation — is alive and well, in spite of whatever iniquitous sludge might ooze out from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.Los Angeles Times, 12 Sep. 2019 But those jabs were misguided, spun by malcontents to stoke anger against an iniquitous regime the queen neither created nor controlled. Jeffrey Westbrook. Styled By Will Kahn, Town & Country, 22 Aug. 2019 Legalization was extolled as a means to mitigate the iniquitous effects of a drug war that disproportionately imprisoned African Americans, often for possessing trifling quantities of pot. Special To The Oregonian, OregonLive.com, 12 Dec. 2017 See More