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Webster 1913 Edition

Vengeance

Venge′ance

,
Noun.
[F.
vengeance
, fr.
venger
to avenge, L.
vindicare
to lay claim to, defend, avenge, fr.
vindex
a claimant, defender, avenger, the first part of which is of uncertain origin, and the last part akin to
dicere
to say. See
Diction
, and cf.
Avenge
,
Revenge
,
Vindicate
.]
1.
Punishment inflicted in return for an injury or an offense; retribution; – often, in a bad sense, passionate or unrestrained revenge.
To me belongeth
vengeance
and recompense.
Deut. xxxii. 35.
To execute fierce
vengeance
on his foes.
Milton.
2.
Harm; mischief.
[Obs.]
Shak.

Webster 1828 Edition

Vengeance

VENGEANCE

,
Noun.
venj'ance. [L. vindico.]
The infliction of pain on another, in return for an injury or offense. Such infliction, when it proceeds from malice or more resentment, and is not necessary for the purposes of justice, is revenge, and a most heinous crime. When such infliction proceeds from a mere love of justice, and the necessity of punishing offenders for the support of the laws, it is vengeance, and is warrantable and just. In this case, vengeance is a just retribution, recompense or punishment. In this latter sense the word is used in Scripture, and frequently applied to the punishments inflicted by God on sinners.
To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. Deut. 32.
The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries. Nah. 1.
With a vengeance, in familiar language, signifies with great violence or vehemence; as, to strike one with a vengeance.
Formerly, what a vengeance, was a phrase used for what emphatical.
But what a vengeance makes thee fly?

Definition 2024

vengeance

vengeance

English

Alternative forms

Noun

vengeance ‎(countable and uncountable, plural vengeances)

  1. Revenge taken for an insult, injury, or other wrong.
    • 2000, Gladiator (film):
      My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North; General of the Felix Legions; loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius; father to a murdered son; husband to a murdered wife; and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
  2. Desire for revenge.
    • c. 1856, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit:
      Thereupon full of anger, full of jealousy, full of vengeance, she forms […] a scheme of retribution, […]
    • 2008, Jean Harvey Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography (ISBN 0393075680):
      If her husband was all forgiveness, asking the bands to play “Dixie,” she was full of vengeance […]
    • 2011, James Calloway, Black America, Not in This America (ISBN 1462868576):
      Are they full of vengeance[?], because they say that people with vengeance in their hearts must dig two graves, one for their enemy and the other for themselves.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

French

Etymology

venger +‎ -ance

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /vɑ̃.ʒɑ̃s/
  • Rhymes: -ɑ̃s
  • Homophone: vengeances
  • Hyphenation: ven‧geance

Noun

vengeance f ‎(plural vengeances)

  1. revenge, vengeance

Old French

Noun

vengeance f ‎(oblique plural vengeances, nominative singular vengeance, nominative plural vengeances)

  1. Alternative form of venjance

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman vengeaunce, from Old French vengeance, venjance, from vengier ‎(“to avenge”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈvɛnˌdʒəns/
  • Rhymes: -ɛndʒəns

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