vengeance

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Anglo-Norman vengeaunce, from Old French vengeance, venjance, from vengier (to avenge). Analysable as venge +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈvɛnˌd͡ʒəns/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛndʒəns

Noun

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vengeance (countable and uncountable, plural vengeances)

  1. Revenge taken for an insult, injury, or other wrong.
    • 1906, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], Time and the Gods[1], London: William Heineman, →OCLC, page 28:
      All the gods have mocked at prayer. This sin must now be punished by the vengeance of men.
    • 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.
    • 2022 April 5, Sean Hannity, Sean Penn, 22:33 from the start, in Sean Penn joins Sean Hannity to discuss Russian invasion of Ukraine (Hannity)‎[2], Fox News, archived from the original on 11 April 2022:
      Penn: I don't want to invest in the conversation, not that I don't have it privately, about my feelings about what direct action should happen to a leader who does that, but if there is a God, there will be vengeance beyond all possible comprehension.
      Hannity: "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord", quoted in a very famous book.
  2. Desire for revenge.
    • 1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, [], published 1857, →OCLC:
      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:
      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:
      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

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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French

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French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

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From venger +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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vengeance f (plural vengeances)

  1. revenge, vengeance

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Old French

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Noun

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

  1. Alternative form of venjance