Library / English Dictionary

REVENGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Action taken in return for an injury or offense

Synonyms:

retaliation; revenge

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("revenge" is a kind of...):

getting even; paying back; return (a reciprocal group action)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "revenge"):

payback; retribution; vengeance (the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done) especially in the next life)

reprisal (a retaliatory action against an enemy in wartime)

Derivation:

revenge (take revenge for a perceived wrong)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Take revenge for a perceived wrong

Example:

He wants to avenge the murder of his brother

Synonyms:

avenge; retaliate; revenge

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "revenge" is one way to...):

penalise; penalize; punish (impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "revenge"):

get back; get even (take revenge or even out a score)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

revenge (action taken in return for an injury or offense)

Credits

 Context examples: 

His revenge would have been complete indeed.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

His revenge came when she defended Maeterlinck and he brought into action the carefully-thought-out thesis of "The Shame of the Sun."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

His presence was beginning to be odious to her; and if Maria gained him not, she was now cool enough to dispense with any other revenge.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But your mind is warped by an innate principle of general integrity, and therefore not accessible to the cool reasonings of family partiality, or a desire of revenge.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The parrot alone was enough to drive her distracted, for he soon felt that she did not admire him, and revenged himself by being as mischievous as possible.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Here was a face with flashing eyes and distorted features, a face convulsed with hatred and with the mad joy of gratified revenge.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Cringing and snivelling himself before the blows or angry speech of a man, he revenged himself, in turn, upon creatures weaker than he.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

High and strong the chateaux, lowly and weak the brushwood hut; but God help the seigneur and his lady when the men of the brushwood set their hands to the work of revenge!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She heeded nothing of what I said; but when she had tasted the water and drawn breath, she went on thus—I tell you I could not forget it; and I took my revenge: for you to be adopted by your uncle, and placed in a state of ease and comfort, was what I could not endure.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Him they had deserted, whether in sheer panic or out of revenge for his ill words and blows I know not; but there he remained behind, tapping up and down the road in a frenzy, and groping and calling for his comrades.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)