vengeance

noun

ven·​geance ˈven-jən(t)s 

: punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense : retribution

Phrases

with a vengeance

1

: with great force or vehemence

undertook reform with a vengeance

2

: to an extreme or excessive degree

the tourists are back—with a vengeance

Synonyms

• payback
• reprisal
• requital
• retaliation
• retribution
• revenge

Examples of vengeance in a Sentence

He thought briefly of the long-dead woman bound to this stone in 1654 and burnt alive as a witch. And for what? An over-sharp tongue, delusions, mental eccentricity, to satisfy a private vengeance, the need for a scapegoat in times of sickness or the failure of a harvest, or perhaps as a sacrifice to propitiate a malignant unnamed god? —P. D. James, The Private Patient, 2008

Unlike the type of cannibalism much of the world had come to know—among desperate explorers, marooned sailors, and victims of famine—the Cinta Larga's consumption of human flesh was born not out of necessity but out of vengeance and an adherence to tribal traditions and ceremony. —Candice Millard, The River of Doubt, 2005

As it turns out, police crackdowns in the 1990's did not so much destroy Los Angeles street gangs as temporarily displace them to Central America. Soon they returned with a vengeance; gang-related homicide rose 50 percent between 1999 and 2002. —Richard Brookhiser, New York Times Book Review, 9 Jan. 2005

He is trying to do in his corner of Texas what death-penalty opponents say is impossible: enforce capital punishment flawlessly, ensuring that the innocent never spend a day on death row and the guilty are sent there only after trials free of bias and vengeance. —John Cloud, Time, 14 July 2003

A holy war may be launched to root out terrorism, but its form must be a punitive crusade, an angry god's vengeance exacted upon sinners, since no proper war can exist when there is no recognition of the other's list of grievances, no awareness of the relentless dynamic binding the powerful and powerless. —John Edgar Wideman, Harper's, March 2002

The fire was set as an act of vengeance.

Angry protesters wanted to inflict vengeance on the killer.

Recent Examples on the Web

In the clip for the seminal crime-comedy’s 30th anniversary, Jackson is seen sitting on a couch casually reciting the passage that describes the extent of the Lord’s anger and vengeance. —Natalie Oganesyan, Deadline, 14 Oct. 2024

But what makes the British series more unsettling and ultimately more compelling is its willingness to sit in the murky middle ground separating vengeance and cruelty, victim and perpetrator. —Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Oct. 2024

The Brown-Tatum vengeance tour could be something to behold. —Sean Gregory, TIME, 2 Oct. 2024

France’s most unforgiving dispenser of fictional vengeance upon male oppressors has maintained her cultural edge by meting out grace instead. —Marc Weingarten, The Atlantic, 23 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English vengeaunce, borrowed from Anglo-French, from venger "to exact satisfaction for" (going back to Latin vindicāre "to lay claim to, exact retribution for") + -aunce -ance — more at vindicate

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

vengeance

noun

ven·​geance ˈven-jən(t)s 

: punishment given in return for an injury or offense : retribution