vendetta
noun
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Vendetta has been getting even in English since the 19th century, when it first was used to refer to feuds between different clans or families. It later extended in meaning to cover acts that are known to feature in feuds of all kinds. English speakers borrowed vendetta, spelling and all, from Italian, in which it means "revenge." It ultimately traces to the Latin verb vindicta, of the same meaning. That Latin word is also in the family tree of many other English terms related to getting even, including avenge, revenge, vengeance, vindicate, and vindictive.
Examples of vendetta in a Sentence
Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 1 Apr. 2024
Meanwhile, Commissioner Joe Carollo, famously combative since his first election in 1979, is smarting over a lawsuit accusing him of pursuing a vicious political vendetta against a nightclub owner.
—Susan Merriam, Miami Herald, 28 Mar. 2024
Meanwhile, my dad was embroiled in a multi-decade battle with the local suburban New York City squirrel population that had been reared in an atmosphere of lifelong vendettas and other cultural grudges.
—Paul Cappiello, The Courier-Journal, 12 Jan. 2024
Lee faces an array of corruption allegations but has denied legal wrongdoing and accused Yoon’s government of pursuing a political vendetta.
—Tim Stelloh, NBC News, 3 Jan. 2024
And Jagger was a target of the motorcycle club Hells Angels, who had a vendetta against the band after a 1969 concert for which they’d been hired as security ended in the fatal stabbing of a teenage fan.
—Rachel Desantis, Peoplemag, 17 Nov. 2023
Each of the swans carries out their personal vendetta against Capote in their own way.
—Brande Victorian, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2024
Monkey Man is, on the surface, a fairly simple tale of vengeance: Man has vendetta.
—David Fear, Rolling Stone, 12 Mar. 2024
That's the question that appears to be boggling the minds of Bachelor Nation since Sydney Gordon's vendetta against Maria Georgas erupted earlier this season.
—Glamour, 19 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vendetta.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near vendetta
Cite this Entry
“Vendetta.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vendetta. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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vendetta
noun
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