Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A feud between two families that arises from the injury or killing of the member of one family by a member of the other family, leading to long-lasting animosity and retaliatory acts of revenge.
- noun A series of acts attacking or attempting to injure another.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A condition of private war in which the nearest of kin execute vengeance on the slayer of a relative; a blood-feud
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A blood feud; private revenge for the murder of a kinsman.
- noun Any feud or contention that is bitter and prolonged; however, the deep enmity may be held by only one party to the dispute.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
bitter ,destructive feud , normally between twofamilies ,clans , orfactions , in which eachinjury orslaying isrevenged : ablood feud .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a feud in which members of the opposing parties murder each other
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The vendetta is still the custom in Sardinia, and a person is respected if he takes blood revenge on the killer of a kinsman.
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“The only thing I’d like to respond to is your choice of the word vendetta.”
Vince Flynn Collectors’ Edition #2 Vince Flynn 2010
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“The only thing I’d like to respond to is your choice of the word vendetta.”
Vince Flynn Collectors’ Edition #2 Vince Flynn 2010
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“The only thing I’d like to respond to is your choice of the word vendetta.”
Vince Flynn Collectors’ Edition #2 Vince Flynn 2010
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As a DEM you don't carry a big stick nor believe in vendetta.
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The tendency to take summary vengeance, called vendetta, still exists in the villages; where the people having no social amusements, nothing to read, nor any other resource than cards during the winter nights, are apt to quarrel over trifles; which, fanned by their local petty jealousies, assisted often by the generous nature of their wine, ripen into deadly feuds.
Itinerary through Corsica by its Rail, Carriage & Forest Roads C. B. Black
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The vendetta was the chief law of Corsican society up to comparatively recent times; and its effects are still visible in the life of the stern islanders.
The Life of Napoleon I 01 Rose, John Holland 1902
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The vendetta was the chief law of Corsican society up to comparatively recent times; and its effects are still visible in the life of the stern islanders.
The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 1 of 2) John Holland Rose 1898
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Though the vendetta is a natural outgrowth of Italian soil, yet masses of men are seldom, like individuals, animated solely by the spirit of revenge.
A History of Rome During the Later Republic and Early Principate 1885
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With the right access, a cheap thumb drive and a vendetta are the only ingredients an insider needs to obtain and leak secrets.
SFGate: Top News Stories By JORDAN ROBERTSON 2010
victoriapl commented on the word vendetta
"It seemed to me that he expressed his regret for having passed ten years in vendetta with his good neighbor Orlandi, and he offered him the white hen which he carried as reparation."
The Corsican Brothers by Alexandre Dumas
December 3, 2007