vengeance

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word vengeance. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word vengeance, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say vengeance in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word vengeance you have here. The definition of the word vengeance will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofvengeance, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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, 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)‎, 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

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

French

French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

From venger +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

Noun

vengeance f (plural vengeances)

  1. revenge, vengeance

Derived terms

Further reading

Old French

Noun

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

  1. Alternative form of venjance