avenge or revenge?
Both words are about repaying a wrong. The differences between them have to do with grammar and shades of meaning, though there is considerable overlap in meaning, dictated by usage over time. Grammatically speaking, avenge is a verb only; revenge is a verb and more usually a noun. Avenge traditionally relates not only to repaying a wrong but to getting justice on somebody else's behalf as a remedy for that wrong (They vowed to avenge their sister's murder [or their murdered sister]). Revenge, often connoting malice, traditionally relates to getting even with an adversary by inflicting punishment or harm (In an act of revenge for the bombing of our ship, our navy shelled the terrorists' training camps; Bands of irregular soldiers set out to revenge their leader's assassination). Though both avenge and revenge can be used as transitive verbs with reflexive pronouns, revenge is commoner in this use: The dictatorship avenged itself on the partisans' radio station by burning it to the ground; As a victim of a hate crime, she finally avenged herself on the perpetrators.
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