revenge
Settling the score
Revenge is harm inflicted in return for a wrong suffered.
It's personal retaliation—you get revenge on someone who hurt you: She plotted revenge against her ex-husband.
The verb means to inflict such harm: He vowed to revenge his father's murder.
Revenge differs from vengeance mainly in that vengeance sounds loftier and may be impersonal.
Revenge is a dish best served cold counsels patience before striking back.
Offensive response to aggression
- reprisalPunitive action in return
- retributionPunishment for wrongdoing
- backlashStrong negative reaction
- counterstrikeRetaliatory military action
counterpunch · payback · tit-for-tat · countermove · counteroffensive · recompense · requital · counteraction
Sharp, unpleasant taste or feeling
- resentmentPersistent bitter displeasure
- animosityActive, bitter hostility
- hostilityAntagonistic disposition toward others
- spitePetty malicious intent
grudge · hatred · malice · vindictiveness · wrath · fury · rage · acrimony
Deserved punishment or rebuke
- consequencesResults of actions taken
- downfallSudden loss of power
- nemesisPersistent source of ruin
- hubrisRuinous excessive confidence
demise · ruin · undoing · fate · boomerang · backfire · irony · reversal
Punishment for wrongdoing
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
- reckoningSettlement of accounts
- verdictOfficial court decision
- sentenceComplete thought, grammatically
prosecution · conviction · courts · trial · justice · sentencing · tribunal · gallows
Extralegal justice-seeker
- protagonistStory's central figure
- villainWicked story antagonist
- antagonistOne who opposes another
- HamletDanish prince's revenge tragedy
Oldboy · plot · scheme · mastermind · oath · vow · nemesis · reckoning
Prolonged retaliatory conflict
- clanRelated group sharing ancestry
- rivalryOngoing contest between opponents
- generationalRelating to age groups
- hereditaryPassed through generations
counterattack
Offensive response to aggression
- reprisalPunitive action in return
- retributionPunishment for wrongdoing
- backlashStrong negative reaction
counterstrike · counterpunch · payback · tit-for-tat · countermove · counteroffensive · recompense · requital · counteraction · response
bitterness
Sharp, unpleasant taste or feeling
- resentmentPersistent bitter displeasure
- animosityActive, bitter hostility
- hostilityAntagonistic disposition toward others
spite · grudge · hatred · malice · vindictiveness · wrath · fury · rage · acrimony · enmity
comeuppance
Deserved punishment or rebuke
- consequencesResults of actions taken
- downfallSudden loss of power
- nemesisPersistent source of ruin
hubris · demise · ruin · undoing · fate · boomerang · backfire · irony · reversal · fall
retribution
Punishment for wrongdoing
- punishmentPenalty for an offense
- reckoningSettlement of accounts
- verdictOfficial court decision
sentence · prosecution · conviction · courts · trial · justice · sentencing · tribunal · gallows · execution
vigilante
Extralegal justice-seeker
- protagonistStory's central figure
- villainWicked story antagonist
- antagonistOne who opposes another
Hamlet · Oldboy · plot · scheme · mastermind · oath · vow · nemesis · reckoning · showdown
vendetta
Prolonged retaliatory conflict
- clanRelated group sharing ancestry
- rivalryOngoing contest between opponents
- generationalRelating to age groups
hereditary · Montagues · nemesis · ancestral
- social interactiongreeting, hello, goodbye, hi, bye
- dramaTV drama, acting, television drama, drama school, playwright
- mythsmyth, legend, fable, fairy tale, folk tale
- action filmschase scene, car chase, explosion, stunt, shootout
- counteractionscountermeasure, countermove, counterattack, counterblow, counterstrike
- drama themesbetrayal, forbidden love, love triangle, family conflict, power struggle
revengeforgiveness
Releasing resentment toward offenders
pardon · mercy · clemency · absolution · grace
revengereconciliation
Restoration of friendly relations
peacemaking · rapprochement · making peace · peace · forgive and forget
revengecompassion
Concern for others' distress
magnanimity · love · sympathy · pity · empathy
- take revengeReturn harm for harm
- bitter revenge
- sweet revengeGratifying retaliation
- revenge is sweetRetaliation feels rewarding
- revenge plotPlan to retaliate deliberately
- revenge pornNon-consensual intimate imagery distribution
revenges, revengeful, revenging, revenged, revengers, revengefulness, revenger