Avenge

Question

"to avenge someone" - does it mean:1] to avenge something on behalf of (the) someone2] to retalitate against someoneIf it's the first meaning, what's the word for the second?I came across this one: "She determined to avenge herself on the killer" - what's its meaning? That she retalitated against the killer?Thank you

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

"to avenge someone" - does it mean:

1] to avenge something on behalf of (the) someone Yes. 'She avenged the murder of her father' means that she took action against her father's killer.

2] to retalitate against someone Yes. If the original injury was to you, now you are 'avenging yourself'.

I came across this one: "She determined to avenge herself on the killer" - what's its meaning? That she retaliated against the killer? Yes, she retaliated, she took retribution from the killer.

Best wishes, Clive

Riglos · Answer

Hi Maverick!

I think the meaning of your last example "She determined to avenge herself on the killer" is "She determined to take revenge on the killer (for having murdered her son)", or if you want to describe what she did to take revenge: "She determined to take revenge on the killer (by informing on him)".

In this example, I think it reads "to avenge herself", because she wants to alleviate the suffering the murder must have caused to her by doing something harmful to the killer. She isn't the victim of the murder, but of the suffering .

To retaliate (not retalitate) against someone is to take revenge on someone or, as the Cambridge dictionary puts it: "to hurt someone or do something harmful to them because they have done or said something harmful to you."

When you "avenge someone", that "someone" is not the person who caused some damage, but the victim of the harmful action.

If what you want is to punish the person who has done you some harm, you "take revenge on someone".

So, in you example, I'd say that to "avenge someone" is 1: "to avenge something on behalf of someone (including oneself)"

I hope it helps, if that's the answer you were after.

Regards,

Mara.

Maverick88 · Answer

Thank you both, got it! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Avenge

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