Synonyms for vindictive
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Spiteful — having a tendency to seek revenge when wronged, vengeful
spiteful, vengeful, nasty, unforgiving, malicious, resentful, rancorous, implacable, revengeful dated, avengeful dated, wreakful formal dated, vindical dated rare, vengesome rare, vengeable dated, despiteful dated
2. Retaliatory — punitive
retaliatory, punitive, punishing, castigatory, vindicatory, punitory dated
Definitions
- adj. 1
Having a tendency to seek revenge when wronged, vengeful.
- adj. 2
Punitive.
Related words
Example sentences
- nasty The child had a nasty cough because he had a cold.
- vengeful Bruno was vengeful and filled with rage.
- unforgiving The desert is a dry and unforgiving place to live.
- spiteful Fyodor’s mother is a spiteful woman who despises Rima.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| vindictive | rising | |
| nasty | rising | |
| vengeful | rising | |
| unforgiving | rising | |
| spiteful | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- nasty2
- 8 letters
- punitive3, vengeful2, spiteful2, wreakful, vindical, punitory
- 9 letters
- malicious3, punishing3, resentful3, rancorous3, avengeful, vengesome, vengeable
- 10 letters
- implacable4, revengeful, despiteful
- 11 letters
- unforgiving4, retaliatory5, castigatory, vindicatory
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (nasty2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- vindicatif
- Italiano
- vendicativo
- Deutsch
- rachsüchtig