Vengeance

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Vengeance \Venge"ance\, n. [F. vengeance, fr. venger to avenge,
     L. vindicare to lay claim to, defend, avenge, fr. vindex a
     claimant, defender, avenger, the first part of which is of
     uncertain origin, and the last part akin to dicere to say.
     See {Diction}, and cf. {Avenge}, {Revenge}, {Vindicate}.]
     1. Punishment inflicted in return for an injury or an


        offense; retribution; -- often, in a bad sense, passionate
        or unrestrained revenge.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. --Deut.
                                                    xxxii. 35.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To execute fierce vengeance on his foes. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Harm; mischief. [Obs.] --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {What a vengeance}, or {What the vengeance}, what! --
        emphatically. [Obs.] "But what a vengeance makes thee
        fly!" --Hudibras. "What the vengeance! Could he not speak
        'em fair?" --Shak.
  
     {With a vengeance},
        (a) with great violence; as, to strike with a vengeance.
            [Colloq.]
        (b) with even greater intensity; as, to return one's
            insult with a vengeance.
            [1913 Webster + PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  vengeance
       n : the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation
           for something harmful that they have done) especially in
           the next life; "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith
           the Lord"--Romans 12:19; "For vengeance I would do
           nothing. This nation is too great to look for mere
           revenge"--James Garfield; "he swore vengeance on the man
           who betrayed him"; "the swiftness of divine retribution"
           [syn: {retribution}, {payback}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  30 Moby Thesaurus words for "vengeance":
     avengement, avenging, blood feud, counterblow, energetically,
     enthusiastically, ferociously, feud, fiercely, forcefully,
     furiously, getting even, repayment, reprisal, requital,
     retaliation, retribution, return, revanche, revanchism, revenge,
     revengefulness, sweet revenge, vehemently, vendetta, vengefulness,
     violently, wholeheartedly, wildly, with a vengeance