as in cruel
likely to seek revenge
be careful not to annoy the vindictive old woman who lives down the street
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Recent Examples of vindictive
The Greek gods are famous for their uncontrollable lust, and amusingly petty, vindictive punishments inflicted on those unfortunate enough to insult them.
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Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024
Though whether that can be achieved with the participation of notoriously bitter and vindictive Hasina is a huge question.
—Charlie Campbell, TIME, 3 Oct. 2024
As the presidential candidates head into the most heated phase of the election year so far, former President Donald Trump has made a distinctive shift in tone on his Truth Social profile, lashing out in increasingly vulgar, misogynistic and vindictive posts.
—Ben Kamisar, NBC News, 30 Aug. 2024
In Vice Principals, that came in the form of Lee Russell, the effeminate, vindictive co-vice of a middle school who is best friend and arch nemesis to McBride’s Neal Gamby.
—Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 25 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for vindictive 
Dani Di Placido, Forbes, 14 Oct. 2024
Though whether that can be achieved with the participation of notoriously bitter and vindictive Hasina is a huge question.
—Charlie Campbell, TIME, 3 Oct. 2024
As the presidential candidates head into the most heated phase of the election year so far, former President Donald Trump has made a distinctive shift in tone on his Truth Social profile, lashing out in increasingly vulgar, misogynistic and vindictive posts.
—Ben Kamisar, NBC News, 30 Aug. 2024
In Vice Principals, that came in the form of Lee Russell, the effeminate, vindictive co-vice of a middle school who is best friend and arch nemesis to McBride’s Neal Gamby.
—Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 25 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for vindictive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for vindictive
Adjective
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And having more thoughtful conversations doesn’t preclude the need sometimes to confront those who are needlessly cruel or organizations that benefit from such exploitation.Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 18 Jan. 2025
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In recent months, the Justice Department and the state filed thousands of pages of new records in the lawsuit, including reports and sworn statements from pediatricians, scholars and others who describe Florida’s policies as archaic and cruel.Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 17 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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While conceding that standard phishing methods, those that typically require threat actors to craft malicious emails that are delivered to a wide audience, are relatively easy for email platforms to detect and block, that’s not the case with this phishless attack.Davey Winder, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025
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Alec Baldwin has filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit six months after an involuntary manslaughter charge against him, stemming from the 2021 Rust shooting, was dropped.Charmaine Patterson, People.com, 10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Mercurial, vengeful and fixated on forming a safe space for Mormons, Brigham Young stops at nothing to see his dream realized.Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 9 Jan. 2025
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Breathing fire Angry, vengeful, paranoid, a remorseless bully: These are trademark Carollo traits, according to city employees, two of his daughters, citizens who have argued with him and former allies double-crossed by him.Linda Robertson, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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That’s when Evans, in a full sprint, blindsided Lattimore with a vicious hit in the back and knocked him to the ground.Rick Stroud, Orlando Sentinel, 10 Jan. 2025
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Several fast-growing wildfires fueled by a vicious Southern California wind storm are devastating communities across the Los Angeles region, with homes being burned to the ground and tens of thousands of people evacuating to safety.Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 10 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Eventually, this revengeful streak will result in loneliness and isolation.Nicole Froio, refinery29.com, 29 Oct. 2024
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Artemis was revengeful toward anyone who trespassed in wild nature, and trespassing could mean neglect, like not paying your dues.Robert Sullivan, Vogue, 20 June 2023
Adjective
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There’s no legal argument to be made against this turn away from fact-checking and towards a more freewheeling, more disinformation-laden, more confusing, more hateful and less illuminating approach.New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 13 Jan. 2025
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With Zuckerberg’s decision to rescind policies barring hateful speech, he’s made clear that distinction is worth the possibility of political clout come Inauguration Day.Makena Kelly, WIRED, 9 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Both saw themselves as outsiders in a hostile environment.Ruth Margalit, The New Yorker, 13 Jan. 2025
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Aber’s book is successful in showing that self-hatred is the fruit not of a few particular traumas but rather of a hostile environment’s erosive drip on the psyche.Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 13 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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But the smoke is still rising, and petty partisanship is a distraction and disservice at the moment, given all that’s been lost, and all the hard work of moving forward.Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2025
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In an era of steadily declining trust in media, the dry formalities of a legal template provide not only an imprimatur of institutional credibility, but also the freedom to go into extreme amounts of detail without seeming petty, tedious or self-indulgent.Eleanor Hawkins, Axios, 9 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near vindictive
Cite this Entry
“Vindictive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/vindictive. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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