vengeful

[ venj-fuhl ]

adjective

1. desiring or seeking vengeance; vindictive:

   a vengeful attitude.

   Synonyms: spiteful, revengeful

2. characterized by or showing a vindictive spirit:

   vengeful intentions.

3. serving to inflict vengeance:

   a vengeful killing.

vengeful

/ ˈvɛndʒfʊl /

adjective

1. desiring revenge; vindictive
2. characterized by or indicating a desire for revenge

   a vengeful glance

3. inflicting or taking revenge

   with vengeful blows

Derived Forms

• ˈvengefully, adverb
• ˈvengefulness, noun

Other Words From

• vengeful·ly adverb
• vengeful·ness noun
• unvengeful adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of vengeful¹

First recorded in 1580–90; shortened form of revengeful

Example Sentences

Yes, California’s newly elected Democratic senator requires bulked-up security to get through life, thanks to the animosity and violent threats stirred up by the vengeful president-elect.

From Los Angeles Times

As a practical matter, by far the most important protections against vengeful prosecutions are career federal prosecutors’ nonpartisan professionalism and the norms forbidding the White House from telling them whom to prosecute.

From Los Angeles Times

With a party now shaped in his image, and a Supreme Court that already gave him immunity, how will a vengeful Donald Trump’s second term go down?

From Slate

Conservatives pushed back against liberal commentators and activists’ narrative of a dark, vengeful Trump presidency.

From Los Angeles Times

If so, then he is utterly complicit in Trump’s fascism-forward plan for a vengeful and violent second term; if not, he is painfully, and humiliatingly naive.

From Slate

Related Words

• antagonistic
• hostile
• vindictive