There’s not much difference in the meanings between avenge, revenge, and vengeance. The three are all about inflicting harm.
The easiest is avenge and vengeance, which are from the same root, only revenge is the verb to the noun of vengeance, so to achieve vengeance against someone, one is revenging.
The minute difference between avenge/vengeance and revenge is that the former pair have a motivation for justice while revenge is both noun and verb wanting to hurt someone, due to their hate.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Avenge | Revenge | Vengeance |
|---|---|---|
 — |
 — |
 |
| Part of Grammar: | ||
| Verb, transitive
Third person present verb: avenges |
Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: revenge |
Noun
Plural: vengeance |
Inflict harm in return for (an injury or wrong done to oneself or another)
|
Noun: The action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands
Verb, intransitive: Verb, transitive:
|
Infliction of injury, harm, humiliation, or the like, on a person by another who has been harmed by that person
An act or opportunity of inflicting such trouble The desire for revenge [Obsolete] Hurt
[Obsolete] Curse
|
| Examples: | ||
| He was determined to avenge the murder of his brother.
They are eager to avenge last year’s Super Bowl defeat. We must avenge our dead. She avenged herself after he broke off their engagement. The warrior swore he would be avenged on their prince. |
Noun: Other spurned wives have taken public revenge on their husbands. It was difficult not to be overwhelmed with feelings of hate and revenge. The Yankees wanted to get their revenge for losing to the Dodgers in the 1955 Series. “Revenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.” – Francis Bacon Verb, intransitive: Thou art justly revenged. Verb, transitive: Her brother was slain, and she revenged his death. “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you” (Shakespeare). |
Voters are ready to wreak vengeance on all politicians.
Her headache was back with a vengeance. But have you the right to vengeance? He is determined to take his vengeance. He was a man full of vengeance. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord. |
| Derivatives: | ||
| Adjective: avengeful, unavenged Adverb: avengingly Noun: avenger |
Adjective: revengeful, revenging, revengeless Adverb: revengefuly, revengingly Noun: nonrevenge, revengefulness, revenger |
|
| History of the Word: | ||
| Late Middle English from the Old French avengier, from a-, from the Latin ad (to) + vengier, from the Latin vindicare (vindicate). | Late Middle English from the Old French revencher, from the late Latin revindicare, from re- (expressing intensive force) + vindicare (claim, avenge). | Middle English from the Old French venger, vengier meaning avenge, from the Latin vindicare meaning vindicate. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves?
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Resources for Avenge vs Revenge vs Vengeance
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: revenge, vengeance
Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night, 5.1.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
A close-up of Vengeance populaire après la prise de la Bastille is an oil on canvas by Charles Paul Landon was photographed by Rama and is under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Revised as of 4 Apr 2024
By: Kathy Davie