revenge
/rɪˈvendʒ/ (bre, ipa) · /rɪˈvendʒ/ (ame, ipa) · /ri-ˈvenj/ (ame, mw)
revenge — noun
1. the act of hurting or causing trouble for someone who has hurt you or someone cl
the act of hurting or causing trouble for someone who has hurt you or someone close to you, done as a form of payback
After Jason's bike was stolen by a neighbor, he planned his revenge carefully.
collocation: plan revenge
Lotte did not want revenge on her cheating partner; she just wanted to leave the situation behind.
pattern: revenge on [someone]
Zayd's revenge attacks against the rival family continued long after the original insult was forgotten.
Years after the argument, Anthony still wanted revenge on his former business partner.
- vengeance
stronger, more emotional, and often implies moral justification; 'vengeance' suggests righteous punishment while 'revenge' is more personal and neutral
- retribution
more formal and impersonal; often suggests punishment coming from an authority or cosmic justice rather than from the victim
- retaliation
focuses on responding in kind, especially in workplace, political, or military contexts; less emotional than revenge
- forgiveness
the choice to let go of the desire to hurt someone back
- mercy
showing kindness instead of punishing someone who has wronged you
文法句型
revenge on/against [someone]
用法筆記
Nearly always uncountable; when used as a countable noun (e.g., 'a revenge'), it sounds literary or dated. The common patterns are 'get revenge on [someone]', 'take revenge on [someone]', and 'seek revenge for [something]'.
常見錯誤
revenge — verb
- revengepresent simple I / you / we / they
- revenges3rd person singular
- revenging-ing form
- revengedpast simple
1. to hurt or cause trouble for someone who has made you suffer, as a way of gettin
to hurt or cause trouble for someone who has made you suffer, as a way of getting back at them
Ife swore she would revenge herself on the people who had wronged her family.
pattern: revenge + reflexive + on
In the old tale, the knight revenged his father's death by defeating the dragon.
pattern: revenge + injury/wrong as object
The general revenged the attack on his camp by burning the enemy supply lines.
Aoi revenged herself on the journalist who had lied about her charity work.
文法句型
revenge + yourself + on + [someone]
revenge + [wrong/injury]
用法筆記
Verb usage of 'revenge' is notably more formal and less common in everyday speech than the noun. Most English speakers use 'take revenge' or 'get revenge' (noun patterns) instead. The verb typically appears in two structures: (1) revenge + oneself + on + someone, or (2) revenge + a wrong or injury done to someone. Distinguish from 'avenge', which is used when punishing a wrong done to someone else, not just to yourself.