Definition of VISE
- ️Sun Feb 09 2025
1
: any of various tools with two jaws for holding work that close usually by a screw, lever, or cam
2
: something likened to a vise
economic vise of slow growth and rampant price increases—
David Milne
Illustration of vise
- vise 1
Examples of vise in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
On the funding side, science support is caught in a vise between Republican plans to reduce taxes and increase defense spending, while constraining the size of the federal debt.
—Michael S. Lubell, Scientific American, 29 Jan. 2025
In such a vise, translators go to great lengths to sound different from other translators, resulting quite possibly in not sounding like the elusive Kafka at all.
—Joy Williams, Harper's Magazine, 2 May 2024
McDonald’s left leg was vised between two plates of armored steel.
—Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov. 2023
See all Example Sentences for vise 
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English vys, vice screw, from Anglo-French vyz, from Latin vitis vine — more at withy
Verb (2)
French, past participle of viser to visa, from visa
First Known Use
Noun (1)
1500, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb (1)
1602, in the meaning defined above
Verb (2)
1810, in the meaning defined above
Noun (2)
1842, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of vise was in 1500
Dictionary Entries Near vise
Cite this Entry
“Vise.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vise. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.
Share
More from Merriam-Webster on vise
Last Updated: 9 Feb 2025 - Updated example sentences
Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!