revenge

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹəˈvɛnd͡ʒ/, /ɹɪˈvɛnd͡ʒ/, /ɹiˈvɛnd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈvendʒ/
• Hyphenation: re‧venge

Etymology 1

From Middle French revenge, a derivation from revenger, from Old French revengier (possibly influenced by Old Occitan revènge (“revenge, comeback”), from Old Occitan revenir (“to come back”)), a variant of Middle French revancher, from Old French revenchier. The variants Old French vengier (whence French venger) and Old French venchier are both descended from Latin vindicō, with stress-conditioned different parallel development in the inflectional forms. Compare avenge and vengeance.

Noun

revenge (usually uncountable, plural revenges)

1. Any form of personal, retaliatory action against an individual, institution, or group for some alleged or perceived harm or injustice.

   Synonyms: payback, wreak; see also Thesaurus:revenge

   Indifference is the sweetest revenge.

   When I left my wife, she tried to set fire to the house in revenge.

   After tearing his fave T-shirt unintentionally, my brother wreaked revenge on me by ripping my most prized blazer apart.

2. A win by a previous loser.
   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter I, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “I'm through with all pawn-games,” I laughed. “Come, let us have a game of lansquenet. Either I will take a farewell fall out of you or you will have your sevenfold revenge”.

   • 1999 January 27, Bride of Chaotica! (Star Trek: Voyager) (Science Fiction), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

     CHAOTICA: Arachnia, death as you know it has no hold on me. My defeat is but a temporary setback. I shall return to seek my revenge.
     JANEWAY: He doesn't give up, does he?
     PARIS: They never do.
     CHAOTICA: Our love was not meant to be, my Queen. But be warned. You have not seen the last of (gurgle) Chaotica.

Derived terms

• Montezuma's revenge
• revenge buying
• revengeful
• revenge is a dish best served cold
• revenge is sweet
• revenge porn
• revenge shopping
• revenge spending
• revenge travel

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: リベンジ

Translations

retaliatory action

• Albanian: gjakmarrje (sq) f, hakmarrje (sq) f
• Arabic: ثَأْر m (ṯaʔr), اِنْتِقَام m (intiqām)

  Egyptian Arabic: تار m (tār)

  Hijazi Arabic: انتقام m (intigām, intiqām), ثار m (tār)

  Moroccan Arabic: انتقام m (intiqām)

• Armenian: վրեժ (hy) (vrež), քեն (hy) (kʻen), ոխ (hy) (ox)
• Aromanian: arãzgan n, ahti f
• Assamese: পোটক (pütok), সেকা (xeka), প্ৰতিশোধ (protixüdh)
• Asturian: venganza f
• Azerbaijani: qisas (az), intiqam (az), öc
• Bashkir: үс (üs), ҡон (qon)
• Basque: mendeku
• Belarusian: по́мста f (pómsta)
• Bengali: প্ৰতিশোধ
• Bulgarian: мъст (bg) f (mǎst), отмъще́ние (bg) n (otmǎšténie)
• Carpathian Rusyn: пімста (pimsta)
• Catalan: revenja (ca) m, venjança (ca) f
• Chechen: бехкам f (bexkam)
• Cherokee: ᎠᏞᎢᏍᏗ (atleisdi)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 報仇／报仇 (zh) (bàochóu), 復仇／复仇 (zh) (fùchóu), 報復／报复 (zh) (bàofù)

• Czech: pomsta (cs) f, odplata f
• Danish: hævn c
• Dutch: wraak (nl) f
• Esperanto: venĝo
• Estonian: kättemaks
• Faroese: hevnd f
• Finnish: kosto (fi)
• French: vengeance (fr) f, revanche (fr) f

  Old French: venjance f, justise f

• Galician: vinganza (gl) f
• Georgian: შურისძიება (šurisʒieba), შურისგება (šurisgeba)
• German: Rache (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄 n (fraweit)
• Greek: εκδίκηση (el) f (ekdíkisi)

  Ancient: ἐκδίκησις f (ekdíkēsis)

• Hebrew: נְקָמָה (he) f (nekamá)
• Hindi: बदला (hi) (badlā), इंतक़ाम m (intaqām), इंतिक़ाम m (intiqām)
• Hungarian: bosszú (hu)
• Icelandic: hefnd f
• Ido: venjo (io)
• Indonesian: balas dendam (id), pembalasan (id)
• Irish: díoltas m
• Italian: vendetta (it) f, rivincita (it) f, rivalsa (it) f, ritorsione (it) f
• Japanese: 復讐 (ja) (ふくしゅう, fukushū), 報復 (ja) (ほうふく, hōfuku)
• Kapampangan: ablas
• Kazakh: кек (kek), өш (öş)
• Korean: 복수(復讐) (ko) (boksu), 보복(報復) (ko) (bobok)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: tol (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: кек (ky) (kek)
• Lao: ອາຄາດ (ʼā khāt)
• Latin: vindicta f, ultiō f
• Latvian: atriebe, atriebība
• Lithuanian: kerštas m
• Macedonian: одмазда f (odmazda)
• Malay: dendam
• Malayalam: പ്രതികാരം (ml) (pratikāraṁ)
• Maori: uto, ngakinga
• Marathi: सूड m (sūḍ)
• Mongolian: өс (mn) (ös)
• Norman: r'venge f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hevn m

  Nynorsk: hemn m

• Occitan: revenja (oc) f
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: мьсть f (mĭstĭ)

• Old English: wracu f
• Old High German: rāhha f
• Ossetian: маст исын (mast isyn)
• Pashto: انتقام (ps) m (enteqām)
• Pennsylvania German: Raache f
• Persian: انتقام (fa) (enteqâm)
• Plautdietsch: Rach f
• Polish: odwet (pl) m, pomsta (pl) f, zemsta (pl) f
• Portuguese: vingança (pt) f
• Romanian: răzbunare (ro) f
• Russian: месть (ru) f (mestʹ), рева́нш (ru) m (revánš), мще́ние (ru) n (mščénije), отмще́ние (ru) n (otmščénije), воздая́ние (ru) n (vozdajánije)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìoghaltas m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̏света f, о̀дмазда f

  Roman: ȍsveta (sh) f, òdmazda (sh) f

• Sindhi: بدلو
• Slovak: pomsta f
• Slovene: maščevanje n
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: pomsć f, pomsćenje n

• Spanish: venganza (es) f
• Swahili: kisasi (sw)
• Swedish: hämnd (sv) c
• Tagalog: paghihiganti, resbak (slang)
• Tajik: интиқом (intiqom)
• Tatar: үч (tt) (üç)
• Thai: ความอาฆาต (th) (kwaam-aa-kâat)
• Turkish: intikam (tr), öç (tr)
• Ukrainian: по́мста f (pómsta)
• Urdu: انتقام m (intiqām)
• Uyghur: ئىنتىقام (intiqam)
• Uzbek: intiqom (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự trả thù
• Walloon: rivindje (wa) f
• Welsh: dialedd, dial (cy) m, dialon m pl
• Yiddish: נקמה f (nekome)

Etymology 2

From Middle English revengen, from Old French revengier, revenger.

Verb

revenge (third-person singular simple present revenges, present participle revenging, simple past and past participle revenged)

1. (transitive) To take revenge for (a particular harmful action) or on behalf of (its victim); to avenge.

   Arsenal revenged their loss to Manchester United last time with a 5–0 drubbing this time.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     The gods are just, and will revenge our cause.

   • 1814, Lord Berners, The Ancient Chronicles of Sir John Froissart:

     to revenge the death of our fathers

   • c. 1840, Leigh Hunt, The Seer; Or, Common-places Refreshed:

     However, my veneration for that illustrious man was so great, that on the night when he died, I revenged him finely on his two principal enemies.

2. (transitive, reflexive) To take one's revenge (on or upon someone).
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,
     Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius.

3. (intransitive, archaic) To take vengeance; to revenge itself.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     a bird that will revenge upon you all

   • 1814, Dante Alighieri, “Canto VII”, in H[enry] F[rancis] Cary, transl., The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. […], volume III (Paradise), London: […] [J. Barfield] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 30, lines 45–47:

     Count it not hard henceforth, when thou dost hear
     That a just vengeance was by righteous court
     Justly reveng'd. […]

Derived terms

• revengement
• revenger

Translations

to take one's revenge on someone

• Belarusian: мсціць impf (mscicʹ), по́мсціць impf (pómscicʹ), адпо́мсціць pf (adpómscicʹ)
• Bikol Central: balos (bcl)
• Bulgarian: мъстя́ (bg) impf (mǎstjá), отмъща́вам (bg) impf (otmǎštávam), отмъстя́ pf (otmǎstjá)
• Czech: pomstít se pf, mstít se impf, oplatit pf, oplácet impf
• Danish: hævne seg
• French: se venger (fr) (de quelqu'un)
• Galician: vingar (gl)
• Malayalam: പ്രതികാരം ചെയ്യുക (pratikāraṁ ceyyuka), പകവീട്ടുക (ml) (pakavīṭṭuka)
• Maore Comorian: uliv̄a kiswa (transitive)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: өс авах (ös avax)

• Tagalog: maghiganti
• Turkish: intikan, birinden intikamını almak
• Ukrainian: мсти́ти impf (mstýty), помсти́ти pf (pomstýty), відомща́ти impf (vidomščáty), відімсти́ти pf (vidimstýty), відомсти́ти pf (vidomstýty), мсти́тися impf (mstýtysja), помща́тися impf (pomščátysja), помсти́тися pf (pomstýtysja)

to take revenge for an action

• Arabic: اِنْتَقَمَ (intaqama)
• Belarusian: мсціць impf (mscicʹ), по́мсціць impf (pómscicʹ), адпо́мсціць pf (adpómscicʹ)
• Bikol Central: balos (bcl)
• Bulgarian: мъстя́ (bg) impf (mǎstjá), отмъща́вам (bg) impf (otmǎštávam), отмъстя́ pf (otmǎstjá)
• Burmese: လက်စားချေ (my) (lakca:hkye), ကလဲ့စားချေ (my) (ka.lai.ca:hkye)
• Catalan: revenjar-se (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 報仇／报仇 (zh) (bàochóu), 報復／报复 (zh) (bàofu)

• Czech: mstít se impf, pomstít se (cs) pf
• Danish: hævne, hævne seg
• Dutch: wreken (nl)
• Finnish: kostaa (fi)
• French: venger (fr)
• German: rächen (de)
• Greek: εκδικούμαι (el) (ekdikoúmai)
• Hindi: बदला लेना (badlā lenā), दण्ड देना (daṇḍ denā)
• Italian: vendicarsi
• Japanese: 復讐する (ふくしゅうする, fukushū suru), 報復する (ja) (ほうふくする, hōfuku suru)
• Korean: 복수하다 (ko) (boksuhada), 보복하다 (ko) (bobokhada)
• Lao: ແກ້ແຄ້ນ (lo) (kǣ khǣn)
• Macedonian: одмаздува impf (odmazduva), одмазди pf (odmazdi)
• Malayalam: പകവീട്ടുക (ml) (pakavīṭṭuka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hevne, hevne seg

• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: мьстити impf (mĭstiti)

• Persian: انتقام گرفتن (fa) (enteqâm gereftan)
• Polish: mścić się impf, zemścić się pf, pomścić się (pl) pf
• Portuguese: vingar-se
• Romanian: răzbuna (ro)
• Russian: мстить (ru) impf (mstitʹ), отомсти́ть (ru) pf (otomstítʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: освећи́вати се impf, осве́тити се pf

  Roman: osvećívati se impf, osvétiti se (sh) pf

• Slovak: mstiť sa impf, pomstiť sa pf
• Slovene: maščevati se impf or pf
• Swedish: hämnas (sv)
• Tajik: интиқом гирифтан (intiqom giriftan), қасос гирифтан (qasos giriftan)
• Thai: แก้แค้น (th) (gɛ̂ɛ-kɛ́ɛn)
• Ukrainian: мсти́ти impf (mstýty), помсти́ти pf (pomstýty), відомща́ти impf (vidomščáty), відімсти́ти pf (vidimstýty), відомсти́ти pf (vidomstýty)
• Vietnamese: phục thù (vi), trả thù (vi)

to take revenge on an actor

• Belarusian: по́мсціць impf (pómscicʹ), адпо́мсціць pf (adpómscicʹ)
• Bikol Central: balos (bcl)
• Catalan: revenjar-se (ca)
• Czech: oplácet impf, oplatit pf
• Greek: εκδικούμαι (el) (ekdikoúmai)
• Irish: imir díoltas ar
• Lao: ແກ້ແຄ້ນ (lo) (kǣ khǣn)
• Macedonian: одмаздува impf (odmazduva), одмазди pf (odmazdi)
• Portuguese: vingar (pt)
• Romanian: răzbuna (ro)
• Russian: мстить (ru) impf (mstitʹ), отомсти́ть (ru) pf (otomstítʹ)
• Thai: แก้แค้น (th) (gɛ̂ɛ-kɛ́ɛn)
• Ukrainian: мсти́ти impf (mstýty), помсти́ти pf (pomstýty)

See also

• vendetta
• avenge
• venge
• vengeance
• get one's own back
• get back at somebody
• retaliate

Anagrams

• genever