viperish

8.6

Being mean and trying to hurt people in a secret, sneaky way

adjective
/ˈvaɪpərɪʃ/

Literature

: viperino

Everyone was wary of her viperish nature, knowing she would turn on anyone who crossed her.

Examples

Automatically, he flung the fellow a viperish oath picked up during his in-service, and went on: "You can't send me back alone in this thing."

Fiction book (2001)
His viperish remarks during the meeting made it clear he had no intention of helping his colleagues.
The novel featured a viperish character who betrayed her friends for personal gain.

Synonyms

vicious

vsviperish

222 5.2

Deliberately cruel and likely to hurt someone

is more about sly malice and betrayal than open violence

treacherous

vsviperish

38 7.1

Likely to betray you, for example by lying or breaking promises

focuses on betrayal rather than open spite or malice

poisonous

vsviperish

26 6.0

Full of strong hate and meant to hurt people's feelings

is more about sly betrayal and deceit rather than only emotional harm

villainous

vsviperish

14 7.3

Very bad and cruel, often hurting other people

focuses on spiteful deceit and mean intent rather than general wickedness

venomous

vsviperish

6 6.3

Showing strong hate and wanting to hurt someone

is more about sly betrayal and deceitful conduct

viperous

vsviperish

Literature

9.2

Being cruel and speaking sharp words like a poisonous snake

is identical in meaning but differs only in word form

venomed

vsviperish

9.5

Showing strong hate and trying to hurt someone

is mainly about sly betrayal and general malicious character

venomous-tongued

vsviperish

Literature

9.4

Saying harsh, mean things that hurt people

covers broader malicious character not only cruel speech

vixenish

vsviperish

Offensive

9.9

Acting mean and saying sharp words to hurt others

is the general term for similar mean and deceitful behavior

Antonyms

trustworthy

88 2.1

A person or thing you can depend on to be honest

benevolent

53 5.1

Willing to help other people and give them things they need

How Malicious

venomous

6 6.3

malicious

89 5.8

viperish

Literature

8.6

spiteful

23 5.1

mean

699 2.2

unfriendly

22 1.9

Surface Forms

viperish positive

Morphology

viperish = viper (transparent) = viper + ish

Formed by adding the productive adjective-forming suffix '-ish' to 'viper', meaning 'resembling or characteristic of a viper', which learners can derive.

Etymology

Viperish comes from viper 'a poisonous snake' and the ending -ish 'like', so calling someone viperish is a way of saying they are 'like a viper', sly, mean, and ready to strike.