revenge
English
[edit]
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ɹəˈvɛnd͡ʒ/, /ɹɪˈvɛnd͡ʒ/, /ɹiˈvɛnd͡ʒ/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ɹəˈvendʒ/
- Hyphenation: re‧venge
Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle French revenge, a derivation from revenger, from Old French revengier (possibly influenced by Old Occitan revènge (“revenge, comeback”), from Old Occitan revenir (“to come back”)), a variant of Middle French revancher, from Old French revenchier. The variants Old French vengier (whence French venger) and Old French venchier are both descended from Latin vindicō, with stress-conditioned different parallel development in the inflectional forms. Compare avenge and vengeance.
Noun
[edit]revenge (usually uncountable, plural revenges)
- Any form of personal, retaliatory action against an individual, institution, or group for some alleged or perceived harm or injustice.
- Synonyms: payback, wreak; see also Thesaurus:revenge
- Indifference is the sweetest revenge.
- When I left my wife, she tried to set fire to the house in revenge.
- After tearing his fave T-shirt unintentionally, my brother wreaked revenge on me by ripping my most prized blazer apart.
- A win by a previous loser.
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.
- 1999 January 27, Bride of Chaotica! (Star Trek: Voyager) (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:
- CHAOTICA: Arachnia, death as you know it has no hold on me. My defeat is but a temporary setback. I shall return to seek my revenge.
JANEWAY: He doesn't give up, does he?
PARIS: They never do.
CHAOTICA: Our love was not meant to be, my Queen. But be warned. You have not seen the last of (gurgle) Chaotica.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Japanese: リベンジ
Translations
[edit]retaliatory action
|
Etymology 2
[edit]From Middle English revengen, from Old French revengier, revenger.
Verb
[edit]revenge (third-person singular simple present revenges, present participle revenging, simple past and past participle revenged)
- (transitive) To take revenge for (a particular harmful action) or on behalf of (its victim); to avenge.
- Arsenal revenged their loss to Manchester United last time with a 5–0 drubbing this time.
- 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- The gods are just, and will revenge our cause.
- 1814, Lord Berners, The Ancient Chronicles of Sir John Froissart:
- to revenge the death of our fathers
- c. 1840, Leigh Hunt, The Seer; Or, Common-places Refreshed:
- However, my veneration for that illustrious man was so great, that on the night when he died, I revenged him finely on his two principal enemies.
- (transitive, reflexive) To take one's revenge (on or upon someone).
- 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
- Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,
Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius.
- (intransitive, archaic) To take vengeance; to revenge itself.
- c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
- a bird that will revenge upon you all
- 1814, Dante Alighieri, “Canto VII”, in H[enry] F[rancis] Cary, transl., The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. […], volume III (Paradise), London: […] [J. Barfield] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 30, lines 45–47:
- Count it not hard henceforth, when thou dost hear
That a just vengeance was by righteous court
Justly reveng'd. […]
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to take one's revenge on someone
|
to take revenge for an action
|
to take revenge on an actor
|
See also
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English terms borrowed from Middle French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Old Occitan
- English terms derived from Latin
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English reflexive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with archaic senses
- en:Directives