wreakful

English

Alternative forms

• wreakfull (obsolete)
• wreckful (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English wrakeful, equivalent to wreak +‎ -ful.

Adjective

wreakful (comparative more wreakful, superlative most wreakful)

1. (poetic or obsolete) Vengeful; angry, furious.

   Synonyms: furious, vindictive; see also Thesaurus:angry, Thesaurus:vengeful

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Ne any liv'd on ground that durst withstand / His dreadfull heast, much lesse him match in fight, / Or bide the horror of his wreakfull hand […].

   • 1802, The Spirit of Anti-Jacobinism:

     He sinks, to every wreakful fiend a prey; / His bosom shut to each affection kind; [...]

   • 1842, Thomas Miller, Rural Sketches:

     Unpropp'd, unsuccoured by stake or tree, / From wreakful storms' impetuous tyranny, [...]

Derived terms

• wreakfully

Related terms

• wreaker
• wreakless