Revenge, n.
1. The act of revenging; vengeance; retaliation; a returning of evil for evil. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is even with his enemy; but in passing it over he is superior. Bacon.
2. The disposition to revenge; a malignant wishing of evil to one who has done us an injury. Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes. Shak. The indulgence of revenge tends to make men more savage and cruel. Kames.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Revenge, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Revenged, p. pr. & vb. n. Revenging (.]
1. To inflict harm in return for, as an injury, insult, etc.; to exact satisfaction for, under a sense of injury; to avenge; -- followed either by the wrong received, or by the person or thing wronged, as the object, or by the reciprocal pronoun as direct object, and a preposition before thewrong done or the wrongdoer. To revenge the death of our fathers. Ld. Berners. The gods are just, and will revenge our cause. Dryden. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius. Shak.
2. To inflict injury for, in a spiteful, wrong, or malignant spirit; to wreak vengeance for maliciously.
Syn. -- To avenge; vindicate. See Avenge.
Revenge, v. i.
To take vengeance; -- with upon. [Obs.] "A bird that will revenge upon you all." Shak.
Shades of meaning
Revenge is the act of making return for an injury done to oneself by doing injury to another person. Retaliation and revenge are personal and often bitter. Retaliation may be partial; revenge is meant to be complete, and may be excessive. Vengeance, which once meant an indignant vindication of justice, now signifies the most furious and unsparing revenge. Revenge emphasizes more the personal injury in return for which it is inflicted, vengeance the ill desert of those upon whom it is inflicted. A requital is strictly an even return, such as to quit one of obligation for what has been received, and even if poor or unworthy is given as complete and adequate. Avenging and retribution give a solemn sense of exact justice, avenging being more personal in its infliction, whether by God or man, and retribution the impersonal visitation of the doom of righteous law. Compare avenge; hatred; requite.
Prepositions
To take revenge upon the enemy, for the injury.