avenger

American  

[uh-ven-jer] / əˈvɛn dʒər /

noun

• avengers
  plural

1. a person who takes revenge for an offense.

   They feel that by engaging in terrorism they become the avengers of a great wrong done to their people.

2. a person who takes revenge on behalf of someone else.

   In the film, Zorro sees himself as the avenger of the innocent.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• avengers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of avenger

aveng(e) ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

A person who seeks revenge can be called an avenger. If you pay your brother back for eating all the cookies by finishing the last of his ice cream, you are an avenger of sorts. You may have heard of the comic book, TV, and movie superheroes called "The Avengers," but they're only one group of famous literary avengers. You could also call Shakespeare's Hamlet, who gets revenge for his father's death, an avenger. Most of the characters in the Greek classic "The Iliad" are avengers, too. The Old French root, avengier, means "to take revenge."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

avenger avengers

In the aftermath of the crime, newly minted fans of Mangione quickly fitted the man with revolutionary trappings, enshrining him as an avenger of working-class power.

From Slate ● May 1, 2026

In “One of Us,” Elizabeth Day’s shrewd novel of political ambition and personal retribution, the unlikely avenger is a diffident British art historian.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

This time around, the wraithlike Bill Skarsgård is our back-from-the-dead avenger.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2024

Furiosa’s reticence is strategic, as well as a trait she shares with Mad Max himself, the model for her taciturn avenger.

From New York Times ● May 17, 2024

Try as he would, Cluny could not evade the grim avenger with the sword.

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

The one here is an assemblage of attitude-laden avengers squeezed into cartoonishly bright outfits inspired by the likes of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Ultraman” and “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 4, 2023

The Black Panther Party co-founder was feared and hated by many Americans, and party members were dismissed as racist, gun-toting militants — Black avengers who believed violence was as American as cherry pie.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2021

And her protagonist Cassie, played by Carey Mulligan, would be the scariest of all avengers: A real woman.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 23, 2020

After years watching glowering avengers trudge through the muck, their rippling shoulders buckling under the weight of the world, superheroes have a spring in their step again.

From Slate ● Apr. 2, 2019

Perhaps they had thrown her out to deflect the avengers.

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston