avenge

English

Etymology

From Middle English avengen, borrowed from Old French avengier, from a- (“upon”) + vengier, from Latin vindicō, vindicāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈvɛnd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛndʒ

Verb

avenge (third-person singular simple present avenges, present participle avenging, simple past and past participle avenged)

1. (transitive) To take vengeance (for); to exact satisfaction for by punishing the injuring party; to vindicate by inflicting pain or evil on a wrongdoer.

   to avenge the murder of his brother

   • 1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] XV. On the late Massacher in Piemont.”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 58:

     Avenge O Lord thy ſlaughter'd Saints, whoſe bones / Lie ſcatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold,

   • 1984, 2:01:42 from the start, in Dune‎^[1] (Science Fiction), spoken by Paul Atreides, →OCLC:

     Father, today I will avenge your death.

2. (reflexive) To revenge oneself (on or upon someone).
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To take vengeance.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 19:18:

     Thou shalt not auenge nor beare any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt loue thy neighbor as thy selfe: I am the Lord.

4. (transitive, archaic) To treat revengefully; to wreak vengeance on.
   • 1609, Bishop Hall, Some few of David's Psalmes Metaphrased:

     thy judgment in avenging thine enemies

Usage notes

The object of "avenge" is generally the act of injury or the injured party, never (in modern usage) the injuring party. The injuring party may be specified with "on," as in "to avenge X on his killer," but this is rather more common with "take/get revenge" and "revenge oneself" than with "avenge."

Synonyms

• (take vengeance): bewreak, get back at, retaliate, take revenge
• (treat revengefully): spite
• See also Thesaurus:avenge

Derived terms

• avengeable
• avengeance
• avengeful
• avengement
• avenger
• avengingly
• unavenged
• unavenging

 

Translations

to take vengeance for

• Arabic: اِنْتَقَمَ (intaqama)
• Armenian: վրեժ լուծել (vrež lucel)
• Aromanian: arãzgan
• Belarusian: мсціць impf (mscicʹ), по́мсціць impf (pómscicʹ), адпо́мсціць pf (adpómscicʹ)
• Bulgarian: мъстя́ (bg) impf (mǎstjá), отмъща́вам (bg) impf (otmǎštávam), отмъстя́ pf (otmǎstjá)
• Burmese: လက်စားချေ (my) (lakca:hkye), ကလဲ့စားချေ (my) (ka.lai.ca:hkye)
• Catalan: venjar (ca)
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 報仇／报仇 (zh) (bàochóu), 復仇／复仇 (zh) (fùchóu)

• Cornish: diala
• Czech: mstít se impf, pomstít se (cs) pf
• Danish: hævne, hævne seg
• Dutch: wreken (nl), wraak nemen
• Estonian: kätte maksma (et)
• Finnish: kostaa (fi)
• French: venger (fr), se venger (fr)
• Friulian: svindicâ
• Galician: vingar (gl)
• Georgian: შურისძიება (šurisʒieba)
• German: rächen (de), ahnden (de)
• Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fraweitan), 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (gawrikan)
• Greek: εκδικούμαι (el) (ekdikoúmai)
• Higaonon: balus
• Hindi: बदला लेना (badlā lenā), दण्ड देना (daṇḍ denā)
• Hungarian: megbosszul (hu)
• Icelandic: hefna (is)
• Irish: díoltas a imirt ar, éiric a bhaint amach i/de
• Italian: vendicare (it)
• Japanese: 復讐する (ふくしゅうする, fukushū suru), 報復する (ja) (ほうふくする, hōfuku suru), かたきを討つ (かたきをうつ, kataki o utsu), あだを討つ (あだをうつ, ada o utsu)
• Korean: 복수하다 (ko) (boksuhada), 보복하다 (ko) (bobokhada)
• Lao: ແກ້ແຄ້ນ (lo) (kǣ khǣn)
• Latin: vindicō, ulcīscor, persequor (la), pūniō
• Macedonian: одмаздува impf (odmazduva), одмазди pf (odmazdi)
• Maori: rānaki, ngaki (mi), rangaranga, ngaki mate, whakakaitoa, huki, huki toto, hiku toto
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hevne, hevne seg

• Occitan: venjar (oc)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: мьстити impf (mĭstiti)

• Ossetian: маст исын (mast isyn)
• Persian: انتقام گرفتن (fa) (enteqâm gereftan)
• Polish: mścić się impf, zemścić się pf, pomścić się (pl) pf
• Portuguese: vingar (pt)
• Romanian: răzbuna (ro)
• Russian: мсти́ть (ru) impf (mstítʹ), отомсти́ть (ru) pf (otomstítʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìol
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: освећи́вати се impf, осве́тити се pf

  Roman: osvećívati se impf, osvétiti se (sh) pf

• Sicilian: vinnicari (scn), minnicari (scn)
• Slovak: mstiť sa impf, pomstiť sa pf
• Slovene: maščevati se impf or pf
• Spanish: vengar (es)
• Swedish: hämnas (sv)
• Tajik: интиқом гирифтан (intiqom giriftan), қасос гирифтан (qasos giriftan)
• Thai: แก้แค้น (th) (gɛ̂ɛ-kɛ́ɛn)
• Turkish: intikam almak (tr), öç almak (tr)
• Ukrainian: мсти́ти impf (mstýty), помсти́ти pf (pomstýty), відомща́ти impf (vidomščáty), відімсти́ти pf (vidimstýty), відомсти́ти pf (vidomstýty), мсти́тися impf (mstýtysja), помща́тися impf (pomščátysja), помсти́тися pf (pomstýtysja)
• Venetan: vendegar, vendicar
• Vietnamese: phục thù (vi), trả thù (vi)
• Walloon: vindjî (wa), rivindjî (wa), raveur (wa), rawè (wa)
• Welsh: dial am

revenge oneself — see revenge

to treat revengefully

• Finnish: kostaa (fi) (+ allative)
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: vindico, ulciscor, persequor (la), punio
• Polish: mścić się impf, zemścić się pf, pomścić się (pl) pf
• Portuguese: vingar (pt)
• Romanian: răzbuna (ro)
• Russian: мсти́ть (ru) impf (mstítʹ), отомсти́ть (ru) pf (otomstítʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìol

Noun

avenge (plural avenges)

1. (archaic) An act of vengeance; a revenge.

Anagrams

• Geneva