vengeance

English

Alternative forms

• vengeaunce (obsolete)

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: -ɛnd͡ʒəns

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^[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

• reprisal
• retaliation
• retribution
• revenge
• wreak
• See also Thesaurus:revenge

Antonyms

• reconciliation

Derived terms

• belly vengeance
• pinch-belly vengeance
• whip-belly vengeance
• whistle-belly vengeance
• with a vengeance

 

Related terms

• venge
• venger
• vengeful

Translations

revenge taken for an insult, injury, or other wrong

• Arabic: ثَأْر m (ṯaʔr), اِنْتِقَام m (intiqām)
• Armenian: վրեժ (hy) (vrež)
• Bulgarian: отмъщение (bg) n (otmǎštenie)
• Catalan: venjança (ca) f
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 復仇／复仇 (zh) (fùchóu)

• Czech: pomsta (cs) f, odplata f
• Danish: hævn
• Dutch: vendetta (nl), vergelding (nl), wraak (nl)
• Esperanto: venĝo
• Estonian: kättemaks
• Faroese: hevnd f
• Finnish: kosto (fi)
• French: vengeance (fr) f
• Galician: vinganza (gl) f
• Georgian: შურისძიება (šurisʒieba), შურისგება (šurisgeba)
• German: Rache (de) f, Vergeltung (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄 n (fraweit)
• Greek: εκδίκηση (el) f (ekdíkisi), αντίποινα (el) f (antípoina), αντεκδίκηση (el) f (antekdíkisi)

  Ancient: τιμωρία f (timōría)

• Hebrew: נקמה (he) f (nekamá)
• Hungarian: bosszú (hu)
• Ido: venjo (io)
• Irish: agairt f, díoltas m
• Italian: vendetta (it) f, rivalsa (it) f, rappresaglia (it) f, ritorsione (it) f
• Japanese: 復讐 (ja) (ふくしゅう, fukushū)
• Korean: 복수(復讐) (ko) (boksu)
• Latin: ultiō f
• Latvian: atriebība f
• Macedonian: одмазда f (odmazda)
• Malayalam: പ്രതികാരം (ml) (pratikāraṁ)
• Maltese: vendetta f, tpattija f
• Maori: ngaki (mi), ngakinga, whakakaitoa
• Occitan: venjança (oc) f
• Ossetian: маст исын (mast isyn)
• Persian: انتقام (fa) (enteqâm)
• Plautdietsch: Rach f
• Polish: odwet (pl) m, pomsta (pl) f, zemsta (pl) f
• Portuguese: vingança (pt) f
• Romanian: răzbunare (ro) f
• Russian: месть (ru) f (mestʹ), мще́ние (ru) n (mščénije), воздая́ние (ru) n (vozdajánije), рева́нш (ru) m (revánš)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìoghaltas m, aicheamhail f
• Slovak: pomsta f
• Spanish: venganza (es) f
• Swedish: hämnd (sv)
• Turkish: intikam (tr)
• Ukrainian: по́мста f (pómsta)
• Vietnamese: sự trả thù (vi)

French

Etymology

From venger +‎ -ance.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

vengeance f (plural vengeances)

1. revenge, vengeance

Derived terms

• la vengeance est un plat qui se mange froid

Further reading

• “vengeance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Noun

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

1. Alternative form of venjance