revengeful

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /rɪˈvɛndʒfəl/ UK /rɪˈvɛndʒfʊl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
eager to take revenge; vindictive

His revengeful temper made reconciliation impossible.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · eager to take revenge;... vindictivevengefulspiteful retaliatory unforgiving malicious

Opposites

forgiving merciful magnanimous clement

Word family

Forms revengefully

Derived forms revengefullyrevengefulness

Related forms revenge avenge vengeance vindicate

Etymology

From revenge + -ful, from Old French revengier, from re- (intensive) + vengier ('to take revenge'), from Latin vindicare ('to claim, avenge'), from vindex ('claimant, avenger').

revengier Old French vindicare Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# revengeful

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /rɪˈvɛndʒfəl/
**IPA (UK):** /rɪˈvɛndʒfʊl/

## Meanings
1. eager to take revenge; vindictive

## Examples
- His revengeful temper made reconciliation impossible.

## Synonyms
- vindictive
- vengeful
- spiteful
- retaliatory
- unforgiving
- malicious

## Antonyms
- forgiving
- merciful
- magnanimous
- clement

## Derived Forms
- revengefully
- revengefulness

## Related Forms
- revenge
- avenge
- vengeance
- vindicate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: revengier
- Root: vindicare

## Etymology
From revenge + -ful, from Old French revengier, from re- (intensive) + vengier ('to take revenge'), from Latin vindicare ('to claim, avenge'), from vindex ('claimant, avenger').

## AI Etymology
Revengeful comes from revenge + -ful, from Old French revengier, from re- (intensive) + vengier ('to take revenge'), from Latin vindicare ('to claim, avenge'), from vindex ('claimant, avenger'). The historical chain includes Old French revengier and Latin vindicare. Older glosses in the chain include "to take revenge", "to claim, avenge", and "claimant, avenger", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, revengeful is best read as compound, suffixal formation, and borrowing, yielding an English adjective shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as an adjective, with the sense "eager to take revenge; vindictive". English derivatives include revengefully and revengefulness; related forms include revenge, avenge, vengeance, and vindicate. The result is an English adjective whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown