action taken in return for an injury or offense
"After years of waiting, she finally took revenge on her former boss by exposing his financial fraud to the press."
Any form of personal, retaliatory action against an individual, institution, or group for some alleged or perceived harm or injustice.
"The community organized a peaceful protest as a form of revenge against the corporation that had polluted their water supply."
In plain English: Revenge is doing something mean to someone who hurt you just because they made you angry.
"She felt driven to take revenge on those who had betrayed her trust."
Usage: Use "revenge" as a noun when referring to the act itself or an object of desire, such as seeking revenge against someone who wronged you. Avoid using it interchangeably with synonyms like "retaliation," which often implies a more formal or legal response rather than personal vengeance.
To take revenge for (a particular harmful action) or on behalf of (its victim); to avenge.
"The knight fought bravely to avenge his fallen lord's honor."
In plain English: To take revenge is to hurt someone back because they did something mean to you first.
"He decided to take revenge on his rival by exposing their secrets online."
From Middle French revenge, a derivation from revenger, from Old French revengier (possibly influenced by Old Occitan revènge ("revenge, comeback"), from Old Occitan revenir ("to come back")), a variant of Middle French revancher (whence deverbal French revanche), from Old French revenchier. The variants Old French vengier (whence French venger) and Old French venchier are both descended from Latin vindicō, with stress-conditioned different parallel development in the inflectional forms.