- revengeful in spirit; inclined to seek vengeance
- said or done in revenge; characterized by vengeance: vindictive punishment
Origin of vindictive
from Classical Latin vindicta, revenge, vindication from vindicatus (see vindicate) + -ive
adjective
The definition of vindictive is someone who is out for revenge.
An example of vindictive is a person who writes down every mean thing ever said to her in a notebook so she can get back at the people who were unkind.
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Vindictive. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Vindictive
vindictive
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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Vindictive. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Vindictive
vindictive
adjective
- Disposed to seek revenge; revengeful.
- Marked by or resulting from a desire to hurt; spiteful.
Origin of vindictive
From Latin vindicta vengeance from vindex vindic- surety, avenger ; see vindicate .Related Forms:
- vin·dic′tive·ly
adverb
- vin·dic′tive·ness
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"Vindictive." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Vindictive.
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Vindictive. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Vindictive
Adjective
(comparative more vindictive, superlative most vindictive)
Origin
From Latin vindicta (“vengeance"), from vindico (“claim, vindicate"), from vindex (“defender"), +"Ž -ive.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"Vindictive." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/Vindictive.
APA Style
Vindictive. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Vindictive
Sentence Examples
- He's a very vindictive man.
- Indisputably Charles was cruel, ungenerous and vindictive; yet he seems, at all hazards, strenuously to have endeavoured to do his duty during a period of political and religious transition, and, despite his violence and brutality, possessed many of the qualities of a wise and courageous statesman.
- The man had a vindictive streak as wide as the valley, no doubt there.
- Bogdanich is vindictive and you'll pay for your obstinacy, said Kirsten.
- The "Vindictive" in addition to her to 6-in.
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WORDS NEAR vindictive IN THE DICTIONARY
- vindictive
- vindicator
- vindicatorily
- vindicators