avenger

American  

[uh-ven-jer] / əˈvɛn dʒər /

noun

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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Etymology

Origin of avenger

aveng(e) ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

In “Le Morte d’Arthur,” Thomas Malory brings an ancient world to life with the story of what happens when blind emotion overrides thought and vengeance becomes the ruin of the avenger.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 2025

Constructed out of Japan’s postwar atomic-bomb trauma, the King of the Monsters has proven a remarkably malleable character, playing environmental protector or atomic avenger with equal aplomb.

From Scientific American • Nov. 3, 2023

McCall — an enigmatic avenger played by Denzel Washington — likes tea, but he’s fine with the coffee that a beautiful server brings him with a smile.

From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2023

Hal Prince, in his original 1979 production, made Sweeney an avenger of Victorian era industrialization.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2023

By being close to the avenger, he made it difficult for him to swing the sword.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White