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vendetta

American  
[ven-det-uh] / vɛnˈdɛt ə /

noun

  1. a private feud in which the members of the family of a murdered person seek to avenge the murder by killing the slayer or one of the slayer's relatives, especially such vengeance as once practiced in Corsica and parts of Italy.

  2. any prolonged and bitter feud, rivalry, contention, or the like.

    a political vendetta.
vendetta British  
/ vɛnˈdɛtə /

noun

  1. a private feud, originally between Corsican or Sicilian families, in which the relatives of a murdered person seek vengeance by killing the murderer or some member of his family

  2. any prolonged feud, quarrel, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • vendettist noun

Etymology

Origin of vendetta

First recorded in 1850–55; from Italian, from Latin vindicta “vengeance”; vindictive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.