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“avenge”
avenge (uh VENJ) (verb), avenges; avenged; avenging
1. To retaliate, to punish someone in order to get even with someone else or to hit back with the intention of achieving justice: Sam avenged his mother's injury by the careless driver by reporting him to the police.
Bill planned to avenge his brother's death by setting the murderer's house on fire.
The settlers avenged the burning of the fort by destroying an Indian village.
2. Etymology: from Old French avengier, from a-, "to" + vengier, "to take revenge", accusative of vis dicta, literally "announced force"; that is, "announcement of force"; from Latin vindicare, "to claim, to avenge, to punish"; from vim dicare, "to show authority", from vim, accusative of vis, "force" + root of dicere, "to say".
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dic-, dict-
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avenge, revenge, revenge, vengeance
avenge (uh VENJ) (verb)
The act of doing something to hurt another person in the sense of achieving justice because that party caused harm to someone; to repay: Sam wants to avenge and to punish the person who caused his mother's injuries.
Bill planned to avenge his brother's death by burning the murderer's house down.
revenge (ri VENJ) (verb)
To seek reprisal by the person who is wronged or offended; to pay back: Tyson still plans to revenge the insult done to him by getting even.
revenge (ri VENJ) (noun)
An action taken in return for an injury or harmful offense: Jamal humiliated her, but Kelly says she will get revenge for what he said.
vengeance (VEN juhns) (noun)
An act of punishment in retaliation for an injury or offense: Elliott was determined to get vengeance for the murder of his sister.
The tree that was chopped down in Judge Desmond's front yard looked like an act of vengeance, as if someone were trying to avenge himself because of the decisions that, as the chief magistrate, he made in court in which he chided the accused for attempting to revenge himself against his neighbor.
This entry is located in the following unit:
Confusing Words Clarified: Group A; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc.
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