vindictiveness
Desire for payback
Vindictiveness is the quality of seeking revenge or harboring a desire to harm someone who has wronged you.
It goes beyond ordinary anger—vindictive people nurse grudges and act on them: His vindictiveness toward former allies surprised no one who knew how he handled betrayal.
The word carries strong negative connotations, suggesting pettiness or cruelty rather than justified retaliation.
Persistent resentment toward someone
- grievanceFormal claim of unfairness
- bitternessSharp, unpleasant taste or feeling
- rancorLasting bitter resentment
- acrimonyBitter ill will
umbrage · pique · indignation · displeasure · discontent · brooding · festering · smoldering
Petty malicious intent
- spitefulnessMalicious desire to harm
- malevolenceActive ill will
- venomInjected animal poison
- crueltyDeliberate harm-causing disposition
viciousness · nastiness · meanness · ill-will · malignity · toxicity · poison · wickedness
Retaliation for injury
- retaliationPunitive response to injury
- paybackRetaliation for wrongs
- retributionPunishment for wrongdoing
- reprisalPunitive action in return
requital · comeuppance · tit-for-tat · counterstrike · counterattack · reciprocity · satisfaction · redress
Active, bitter hostility
- antagonismActive opposition or hostility
- enmityBitter, lasting ill will
- hatredIntense hostile aversion
- belligerenceWarlike aggression
aggression · combativeness · pugnacity · truculence · warpath · ferocity · fierceness · contentiousness
grudge
Persistent resentment toward someone
- grievanceFormal claim of unfairness
- bitternessSharp, unpleasant taste or feeling
- rancorLasting bitter resentment
acrimony · umbrage · pique · indignation · displeasure · discontent · brooding · festering · smoldering · score-settling
spite
Petty malicious intent
- spitefulnessMalicious desire to harm
- malevolenceActive ill will
- venomInjected animal poison
cruelty · viciousness · nastiness · meanness · ill-will · malignity · toxicity · poison · wickedness · sadism
vengeance
Retaliation for injury
- retaliationPunitive response to injury
- paybackRetaliation for wrongs
- retributionPunishment for wrongdoing
reprisal · requital · comeuppance · tit-for-tat · counterstrike · counterattack · reciprocity · satisfaction · redress · punishment
animosity
Active, bitter hostility
- antagonismActive opposition or hostility
- enmityBitter, lasting ill will
- hatredIntense hostile aversion
belligerence · aggression · combativeness · pugnacity · truculence · warpath · ferocity · fierceness · contentiousness · militancy
- bad attitudesnegativity, cynicism, pessimism, hostility, contempt
- bad bloodanimosity, hostility, enmity, resentment, grudge
- hostilityanimosity, hostility, antagonism, belligerence, malice
- petty behaviorsspite, malice, meanness, nastiness, bitterness
- traitshonesty, ambitious, brave, calm, kindness
- vicesgreed, envy, lust, gluttony, vanity
vindictivenessforgiveness
Releasing resentment toward offenders
mercy · clemency · pardon · magnanimity · absolution
vindictivenesskindness
Considerate, caring disposition
benevolence · gentleness · goodwill · friendship · graciousness
vindictivenessequanimity
Unshakable mental steadiness
letting bygones be bygones · peacefulness · serenity · placidity · mildness
vindictive, vindicate, vindication, vindictively, vindicator, vindicators