infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person; violent revenge: But have you the right to vengeance?
2.
an act or opportunity of inflicting such trouble: to take one's vengeance.
3.
the desire for revenge: a man full of vengeance.
4.
Obsolete. hurt; injury.
5.
Obsolete. curse; imprecation.
—Idiom
6.
with a vengeance,
a.
with force or violence.
b.
greatly; extremely.
c.
to an unreasonable, excessive, or surprising degree: He attacked the job with a vengeance.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME < OF, equiv. to vengi(er) to avenge (see venge) + -ance-ance]
1297, from Anglo-Fr. vengeaunce, O.Fr. vengeance "revenge," from vengier "take revenge," from L. vindicare "to set free, claim, avenge" (see vindicate). Vengeful (1586) is from obsolete M.E. venge "take revenge" (c.1300).
"Vengeance is mine, ... saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head." [Paul to the Romans, xii:19-20]
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"
A*venge"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Avenged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Avenging (?).] [OF. avengier; L. ad + vindicare to lay claim to, to avenge, revenge. See Vengeance.]1. To take vengeance for; to exact satisfaction for by punishing the injuring party; to vindicate by inflicting pain or evil on a wrongdoer. He will avenge the blood of his servants. --Deut. xxxii. 43. Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold. --Milton. He had avenged himself on them by havoc such as England had never before seen. --Macaulay. 2. To treat revengefully; to wreak vengeance on. [Obs.] Thy judgment in avenging thine enemies. --Bp. Hall. Syn: To Avenge, Revenge. Usage: To avenge is to inflict punishment upon evil doers in behalf of ourselves, or others for whom we act; as, to avenge one's wrongs; to avenge the injuries of the suffering and innocent. It is to inflict pain for the sake of vindication, or retributive justice. To revenge is to inflict pain or injury for the indulgence of resentful and malicious feelings. The former may at times be a duty; the latter is one of the worst exhibitions of human character. I avenge myself upon another, or I avenge another, or I avenge a wrong. I revenge only myself, and that upon another. --C. J. Smith.
Dic"tion\, n. [L. dicto a saying, a word, fr. dicere, dictum, to say; akin to dicare to proclaim, and to E. teach, token: cf. F. diction. See Teach, and cf. Benison, Dedicate, Index, Judge, Preach, Vengeance.] Choice of words for the expression of ideas; the construction, disposition, and application of words in discourse, with regard to clearness, accuracy, variety, etc.; mode of expression; language; as, the diction of Chaucer's poems. His diction blazes up into a sudden explosion of prophetic grandeur. --De Quincey. Syn: Diction, Style, Phraseology. Usage: Style relates both to language and thought; diction, to language only; phraseology, to the mechanical structure of sentences, or the mode in which they are phrased. The style of Burke was enriched with all the higher graces of composition; his diction was varied and copious; his phraseology, at times, was careless and cumbersome. "Diction is a general term applicable alike to a single sentence or a connected composition. Errors in grammar, false construction, a confused disposition of words, or an improper application of them, constitute bad diction; but the niceties, the elegancies, the peculiarities, and the beauties of composition, which mark the genius and talent of the writer, are what is comprehended under the name of style." --Crabb.
Venge\, v. t. [F. venger. See Vengeance.] To avenge; to punish; to revenge. [Obs.] See Avenge, and Revenge. --Chaucer. "To venge me, as I may." --Shak.
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. To me belongeth vengeance and recompense. --Deut. xxxii. 35. To execute fierce vengeance on his foes. --Milton. 2. Harm; mischief. [Obs.] --Shak. 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, with great violence; as, to strike with a vengeance. [Colloq.]
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