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Definition of vendetta
1 : blood feud
2 : an often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts or exchange of such acts waged a personal vendetta against those who opposed his nomination
From the M-W Editors
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Examples of vendetta in a Sentence
He waged a personal vendetta against his rivals in the Senate.
Recent Examples of vendetta from the Web
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In addition to his allegations about Brockamp, Myrick had accused Gower of carrying out personal vendettas and unduly influencing discipline and promotions.
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Bet even Kim Jong-Un hasn't nursed a vendetta against anything like Sessions has with pot.
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Martinelli, a wealthy businessman who runs a supermarket chain, denies wrongdoing and has described the charges against him as part of a political vendetta.
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Chuck's vendetta against Saul is born of his own selfish dedication to a narrow vision of what a lawyer should look like, and is magnified by Chuck's professional humiliation after Saul illegally alters documents in an important case.
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Nolan’s attorney sees the allegations as a vendetta.
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Stocker paints the recall as a personal vendetta by Kroneberger and board members Lewis Short and Silvio Cipro.
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At the time, Flournoy described the attack as a personal vendetta.
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Nobody knew whether to attribute the gunfire at night to a drug war, a tribal conflict, a personal vendetta, a migration raid, or an Islamist attack.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'vendetta'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Vendetta has been getting even in English since the mid-19th century. English speakers borrowed vendetta, spelling and all, from Italian, in which it means "revenge." It ultimately traces to the Latin verb vindicare, which means "to lay claim to" or "to avenge." 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.
Origin and Etymology of vendetta
borrowed from Italian, “retribution, revenge, blood feud,” going back to Latin vindicta — more at vindictive
VENDETTA Defined for English Language Learners
vendetta
playDefinition of vendetta for English Language Learners
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: a very long and violent fight between two families or groups
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: a series of acts done by someone over a long period of time to cause harm to a disliked person or group
Learn More about vendetta
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See words that rhyme with vendetta Spanish Central: Translation of vendetta Nglish: Translation of vendetta for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about vendetta
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