Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To bring about (damage or destruction, for example).
- transitive verb To inflict (vengeance or punishment) upon a person.
- transitive verb To give vent to or act upon (one's feelings).
- transitive verb Archaic To take vengeance for; avenge.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To revenge; avenge: with either the offense or the person offended as the object.
- To execute; inflict: as, to
wreak vengeance on an enemy. - An erroneous spelling of
reck . - noun Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
- noun Punishment.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb obsolete To reck; to care.
- transitive verb Archaic To revenge; to avenge.
- transitive verb To execute in vengeance or passion; to inflict; to hurl or drive.
- noun obsolete Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete
Punishment ;retribution ,revenge . - verb transitive To
cause ,inflict or let out, especially if causing harm or injury. - verb archaic To inflict or take
vengeance on.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cause to happen or to occur as a consequence
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Cold Case has all the train wreak-y elements that Law & Order has that makes it impossible to turn off: A violent crime in the first few minutes?
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To vote for an opposition party out of pure spite regardless of the train wreak they have made of international and domestic policy is pure absurdity.
Obama, Clinton supporters both say Clinton attacking unfairly 2008
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I have opened my gardens to tourists and they stomp round the manor with glee, yet the cost of repairing the damage they wreak is not even recouped by the fee.
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What a fucking train wreak piece of dog shit that was.
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(Of course, I should disclose that I sat through the colossal train wreak that was _Transformers: ROTF_ the night before.
Mann’s stubborn and fascinating “Public Enemies” » Scene-Stealers 2009
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Althouse: It is "wreak," not "reak" and certainly not "reek" havoc, in case anyone is puzzling over it
"Adventures in Identity Politics." Ann Althouse 2008
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I've been briskly informed in a previous comment trail that it's "wreak" havoc and thus also chaos not wreck but other than that, what's not to love about this.
12/24/2006 - 12/31/2006 Miss Snark 2006
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I've been briskly informed in a previous comment trail that it's "wreak" havoc and thus also chaos not wreck but other than that, what's not to love about this.
Archive 2006-12-24 Miss Snark 2006
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I've been briskly informed in a previous comment trail that it's "wreak" havoc and thus also chaos not wreck but other than that, what's not to love about this.
HH Com 476 (2 people got this number) Miss Snark 2006
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"That's a big body that can run around and kind of wreak havoc, and linebackers obviously tackle for a living," Childress said.
Comments
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