revenge Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun action taken in return for an injury or offense
    retaliation.
  2. verb take revenge for a perceived wrong
    retaliate; avenge.
    • He wants to avenge the murder of his brother

WordNet


Re*venge" transitive verb
Etymology
OF. revengier, F. revancher; pref. re- re- + OF. vengier to avenge, revenge, F. venger, L. vindicare. See Vindicate, Vengerance, and cf. Revindicate.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Revenged present participle & verbal noun Revenging
Definitions
  1. To inflict harm in return for, as an injury, insult, etc.; to exact satisfaction for, under a sense of injury; to avenge; -- followed either by the wrong received, or by the person or thing wronged, as the object, or by the reciprocal pronoun as direct object, and a preposition before thewrong done or the wrongdoer.
    To revenge the death of our fathers. Ld. Berners.
    The gods are just, and will revenge our cause. Dryden.
    Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius. Shak.
  2. To inflict injury for, in a spiteful, wrong, or malignant spirit; to wreak vengeance for maliciously. Syn. -- To avenge; vindicate. See Avenge.
Re*venge" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To take vengeance; -- with upon. Obs. "A bird that will revenge upon you all." Shak.
Re*venge" noun
Definitions
  1. The act of revenging; vengeance; retaliation; a returning of evil for evil.
    Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is even with his enemy; but in passing it over he is superior. Bacon.
  2. The disposition to revenge; a malignant wishing of evil to one who has done us an injury.
    Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes. Shak.
    The indulgence of revenge tends to make men more savage and cruel. Kames.

Webster 1913