Vengeance is the act of punishing or harming someone in return for a wrong they did, often driven by anger and a desire for payback. It is similar to revenge but can sound more dramatic or serious.
From Old French 'venjance', from Latin 'vindicare' meaning 'to claim, punish, avenge'. The root idea is of demanding or taking what you think is owed after a harm.
Vengeance feels satisfying in stories, but in real life it often creates a chain of harms that’s hard to stop. The word carries a heavy, almost biblical weight compared to the more casual ‘revenge’. It’s payback with thunder and echoes.
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