Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

avenge

[uh-venj]
See more synonyms for avenge on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object), a·venged, a·veng·ing.
  1. to take vengeance or exact satisfaction for: to avenge a grave insult.
  2. to take vengeance on behalf of: He avenged his brother.
Show More

Origin of avenge

1325–75; Middle English avengen < Old French avengier, equivalent to a- a-5 + vengier < Latin vindicāre; see vindicate
Related formsa·venge·ful, adjectivea·veng·er, nouna·veng·ing·ly, adverbun·a·venged, adjectiveun·a·veng·ing, adjectiveun·a·veng·ing·ly, adverb

Synonyms

See more synonyms for avenge on Thesaurus.com
vindicate.

Synonym study

Avenge, revenge both imply to inflict pain or harm in return for pain or harm inflicted on oneself or those persons or causes to which one feels loyalty. The two words were formerly interchangeable, but have been differentiated until they now convey widely diverse ideas. Avenge is now restricted to inflicting punishment as an act of retributive justice or as a vindication of propriety: to avenge a murder by bringing the criminal to trial. Revenge implies inflicting pain or harm to retaliate for real or fancied wrongs; a reflexive pronoun is often used with this verb: Iago wished to revenge himself upon Othello.

Antonyms

1. forgive.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for avengers

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Are our visitors then messengers of morality, avengers of righteousness, agents of Providence?

    Victory

    Joseph Conrad

  • Within a hand's cast of the avengers of blood humped the black boulder.

    Bob, Son of Battle

    Alfred Ollivant

  • He must give up all the past, name and all, for was he not flying from the avengers?

  • And when she told the others of this, they all agreed that the avengers must be near.

  • Fresh face and sweet heart, we shall be the avengers of Flanders.

British Dictionary definitions for avengers

avenge

verb
  1. (usually tr) to inflict a punishment in retaliation for (harm, injury, etc) done to (a person or persons); take revenge for or on behalf ofto avenge a crime; to avenge a murdered friend
Show More
Derived Formsavenger, noun

Word Origin

C14: from Old French avengier, from vengier, from Latin vindicāre; see vengeance, vindicate

usage

The use of avenge with a reflexive pronoun was formerly considered incorrect, but is now acceptable: she avenged herself on the man who killed her daughter
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for avengers

avenge

v.

late 14c., from Anglo-French avenger, Old French avengier, from a- "to" (see ad-) + vengier "take revenge" (Modern French venger), from Latin vindicare "to claim, avenge, punish" (see vindicate). Related: Avenged; avenging.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper