revenge
Americanverb (used with object)
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to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf of, especially in a resentful or vindictive spirit.
He revenged his murdered brother.
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to take vengeance for; inflict punishment for; avenge.
He revenged his brother's murder.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the act of revenging; retaliation for injuries or wrongs; vengeance.
- Synonyms:
- requital
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something done in vengeance.
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the desire to retaliate; vindictiveness.
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an opportunity to retaliate or gain satisfaction.
noun
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the act of retaliating for wrongs or injury received; vengeance
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something done as a means of vengeance
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the desire to take vengeance or retaliate
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a return match, regarded as a loser's opportunity to even the score
verb
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to inflict equivalent injury or damage for (injury received); retaliate in return for
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to take vengeance for (oneself or another); avenge
Usage
What does revenge mean? Revenge is the act or process of retaliating against or punishing someone for some kind of harm that they caused or wrongdoing that they did (whether real or perceived). It can also refer to the result of such efforts, as in After all this time, I will have revenge against those who have wronged me!Revenge often involves an attempt to get even by inflicting similar harm to the person who initially harmed the person seeking revenge. Revenge has several other synonyms that each have different shades of meaning, including retribution, retaliation, and reprisal. But more than these words, revenge implies that such retaliation is personal and motivated by a deep anger and perhaps an obsessive desire to get even. Revenge is often planned out over a period of time—hitting someone back right after they hit you could be referred to as retaliation, but probably wouldn’t be called revenge. An informal synonym is payback—getting someone back for something they did to you, especially after time has passed. The related word vengeance can be used as an even more intense synonym for revenge, but it also commonly refers to a desire for revenge, as in He was filled with vengeance. Less commonly, revenge can be used as a verb meaning to get revenge, as in I will revenge the theft of my sister’s necklace or I will revenge myself for the crimes committed against me. The related word avenge is much more commonly used in this way. To avenge is to get revenge or to inflict some form of punishment in retaliation for harm or wrongdoing done by someone else. However, avenge is more associated with justice and doesn’t always imply the same level of anger that revenge does. The adjective revengeful is used to describe someone who is determined to get revenge or someone who is inclined to seek revenge—someone who is vindictive. A more commonly used synonym is vengeful. Example: Revenge never ends well, and becoming obsessed with it is like letting your enemy defeat you yet again.
Synonym Usage
See avenge. Revenge, reprisal, retribution, vengeance suggest a punishment, or injury inflicted in return for one received. Revenge is the carrying out of a bitter desire to injure another for a wrong done to oneself or to those who are felt to be like oneself: to plot revenge. Reprisal, formerly any act of retaliation, is used specifically in warfare for retaliation upon the enemy for its (usually unlawful) actions: to make a raid in reprisal for one by the enemy. Retribution suggests just or deserved punishment, often without personal motives, for some evil done: a just retribution for wickedness. Vengeance is usually wrathful, vindictive, furious revenge: implacable vengeance.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nonrevengenoun
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nonrevengernoun
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prerevengenoun
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revengernoun
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revengelessadjective
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revengingadjective
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unrevengedadjective
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unrevengingadjective
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revenginglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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revengesimple
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revengessimple
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have revengedperfect
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has revengedperfect
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am revengingprogressive
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are revengingprogressive
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is revengingprogressive
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have been revengingperfect progressive
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has been revengingperfect progressive
Past
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revengedsimple
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had revengedperfect
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was revengingprogressive
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were revengingprogressive
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had been revengingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of revenge
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English revengen (verb), from Middle French, Old French revengier, from re- re- + vengier “to avenge”; see avenge
Explanation
Someone seeking revenge is looking to retaliate for a wrong that has been done. Sometimes a word can be used as either a noun or a verb, without changing the spelling. That's the case with revenge. You can take revenge (noun) on someone who hurt you, or you can revenge (verb) the hurt, punishing the person who wronged you. While revenge may be sweet, it usually just leads to more revenge from the other side, and so on. While that makes a good Shakespeare play, it can get pretty wearing in real life.
Vocabulary lists containing revenge
Beowulf vocabulary
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"Frankenstein"
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"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act V
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was stalked by a crowd that carried red flags, a symbol of revenge, and called him dishonorable as he was pelted with an unknown object.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
That is what I found myself thinking about while sitting quietly on that Metro train: not anger, not revenge, but responsibility.
From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026
When I think about Mexico, I don’t wallow in memories involving Montezuma and his gastrointestinal revenge.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Next season Brown will join young superstar Tyrese Maxey in Philadelphia, where he will have ample opportunity to take revenge on the franchise that just cast him out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
No longer kind and friendly, they were now full of revenge.
From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers
“By most mechanical hand, I shall have such revenges on you,” Peter warns early on, gloriously emanating beams of loathing at the always mildly amused Ford.
From Time ● Dec. 7, 2016
He is an enigmatic born leader, a delicate object of myriad desires and revenges, a picker of flowers and performer of mime.
From Slate ● Jan. 11, 2016
They are, wrote Dickens, “the curious old records of likings and dislikings; of jealousies and revenges; of affection defying the power of death, and hatred pursued beyond the grave.”
From The Guardian ● Jun. 12, 2015
The whirligig of time, Grandage implies, brings in its revenges.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 10, 2012
Twisted words, pranks, omissions, riddles, scandals, not to mention their revenges upon one another for ancient, half-remembered slights.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
I, like everyone else, have several times been a victim of harassment in the workplace but we must not throw out fairness in our determination to be revenged on such behavior.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2017
It went to his head and he soon became insufferable, alienating all his new literary "friends", who revenged themselves when he published his second novel, The Double.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 24, 2010
Most sons would by now have felt that they had revenged themselves sufficiently on paternal piety.
From Time Magazine Archive
That day also he landed his heaviest catch to date, a 230-lb. shark, which revenged him somewhat on the Cocos shark tribe for stealing many fish off his hook.*
From Time Magazine Archive
Hera revenged herself, but only after many years.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
As he tells it, logistics discount the revenging Middle Missourian theory.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 9, 2015
Walt is in this for glory, for self-aggrandizement, for revenging his younger self.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2012
More recent films refuse to see Jane as a victim and treat her as an artist who, like her creator, has secret ways of revenging herself on the world.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 20, 2011
This time Will Rogers is a lovable tramp named Jubilo, vaguely desirous of revenging himself on a man who made off with his wife during the War.
From Time Magazine Archive
Oriana has never forgiven me for that restraint—she believes my not revenging myself on him then means I plan to revenge myself in the future.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
