violent
English
Etymology
From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#VIOLENTCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#VIOLENT violent, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#VIOLENT violent, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#VIOLENT violentus, from vīs (“strength”). Displaced native Old English stræc. For the verb, compare French violenter.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvaɪ.ə.lənt/, /ˈvaɪ.lənt/Category:English 3-syllable words#VIOLENTCategory:English 2-syllable words#VIOLENTCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#VIOLENT
Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#VIOLENTAudio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: vi‧o‧l‧ent
- Rhymes: -aɪləntCategory:Rhymes:English/aɪlənt#VIOLENTCategory:Rhymes:English/aɪlənt/2 syllables#VIOLENT
Adjective
violent (comparative violenter or more violent, superlative violentest or most violent)Category:English lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:English adjectives#VIOLENTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
- Involving extreme force or motion.
- A violent wind ripped the branch from the tree.Category:English terms with usage examples#VIOLENT
- Involving physical conflict.
- We would rather negotiate, but we will use violent means if necessary.Category:English terms with usage examples#VIOLENT
- 2019 May 13, David Robson, “The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world”, in BBC:
- Looking at hundreds of campaigns over the last century, Chenoweth found that nonviolent campaigns are twice as likely to achieve their goals as violent campaigns.Category:English terms with quotations#VIOLENT
- Likely to use physical force.
- The escaped prisoners are considered extremely violent.Category:English terms with usage examples#VIOLENT
- Intensely vivid.
- The artist expressed his emotional theme through violent colors.Category:English terms with usage examples#VIOLENT
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
- We have already observed, that he was a very good-natured fellow, and he hath himself declared the violent attachment he had to the person and character of Jones […]Category:English terms with quotations#VIOLENT
- Produced or effected by force; not spontaneous; unnatural.
- c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:
- These violent delights have violent ends.Category:English terms with quotations#VIOLENT
- 1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth
- and no violent state by his own Maxim, can be perpetual,
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Ease would recant / Vows made in pain, as violent and void.Category:English terms with quotations#VIOLENT
- Acute, extreme, sharp.
- 2025 March 1, Barney Ronay, “Crystal Palace through after Millwall keeper’s red for head-high tackle on Mateta”, in The Guardian:
- Palace made it 3-1 on 81 minutes, Nketiah nipping in to finish nicely, then doing a no-celebration pose in front of the away fans. Nketiah grew up a couple of miles from the Den. It felt, at the very least, like a neighbourly overture, and in violent contrast to the opening act at the other end.Category:English terms with quotations#VIOLENT
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Verb
violent (third-person singular simple present violents, present participle violenting, simple past and past participle violented)Category:English lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:English verbs#VIOLENTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
- (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#VIOLENT, archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#VIOLENT) To urge with violence.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
- a great adversary , stepping in , so violented his Majesty to a trialCategory:English terms with quotations#VIOLENT
Noun
violent (plural violents)Category:English lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:English nouns#VIOLENTCategory:English countable nouns#VIOLENTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
- (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#VIOLENT) An assailant.
- 1667, Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety:
- Did the Covetous extortioner observe that he is involv'd in the same sentence, [and] remember that such Violents shall take not heaven, but hell, by force.Category:English terms with quotations#VIOLENT
Anagrams
Category:English 2-syllable words#VIOLENTCatalan
Etymology
Borrowed from LatinCategory:Catalan terms borrowed from Latin#VIOLENTCategory:Catalan terms derived from Latin#VIOLENT violentus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
violent (feminine violenta, masculine plural violents, feminine plural violentes)Category:Catalan lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:Catalan adjectives#VIOLENTCategory:Catalan entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “violent”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “violent”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
- “violent” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “violent”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
French
Etymology 1
Inherited from Old FrenchCategory:French terms inherited from Old French#VIOLENTCategory:French terms derived from Old French#VIOLENT violent, borrowed from LatinCategory:French terms derived from Latin#VIOLENT violentus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
violent (feminine violente, masculine plural violents, feminine plural violentes)Category:French lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:French adjectives#VIOLENTCategory:French entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
Verb
violentCategory:French non-lemma forms#VIOLENTCategory:French verb forms#VIOLENTCategory:French entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
Further reading
- “violent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012
Anagrams
Category:French heteronyms#VIOLENT Category:fr:Personality#VIOLENTLatin
Verb
violentCategory:Latin non-lemma forms#VIOLENTCategory:Latin verb forms#VIOLENTCategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old FrenchCategory:Middle English terms borrowed from Old French#VIOLENTCategory:Middle English terms derived from Old French#VIOLENT violent, from LatinCategory:Middle English terms derived from Latin#VIOLENT violentus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌviːɔlˈɛnt/, /ˌviːəlˈɛnt/, /viəlˈɛnt/, /ˈviːəlɛnt/Category:Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation#VIOLENT
Adjective
violent (plural and weak singular violente)Category:Middle English lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:Middle English adjectives#VIOLENTCategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
- Violent, forcible, injury-causing.
- Potent, mighty, damaging, forceful
- Severe, extreme; excessive in magnitude.
- Tending to cause injuries; likely to cause violence.
- Abrupt; happening without warning or notice.
- (rareCategory:Middle English terms with rare senses#VIOLENT) Despotic, authoritarian; ruling unfairly.
Related terms
Descendants
- English: violent
References
- “vī̆olent, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 30 May 2019.
Occitan
Etymology
From LatinCategory:Occitan terms derived from Latin#VIOLENT violentus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
violent m (feminine singular violenta, masculine plural violents, feminine plural violentas)Category:Occitan lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:Occitan adjectives#VIOLENTCategory:Occitan entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
Related terms
Old French
Etymology
Borrowed from LatinCategory:Old French terms borrowed from Latin#VIOLENTCategory:Old French terms derived from Latin#VIOLENT violentus.
Adjective
violent m (oblique and nominative feminine singular violent or violente)Category:Old French lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:Old French adjectives#VIOLENTCategory:Old French entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
- violent (using violence)
Descendants
Piedmontese
Pronunciation
Adjective
violentCategory:Piedmontese lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:Piedmontese adjectives#VIOLENTCategory:Piedmontese entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from FrenchCategory:Romanian terms borrowed from French#VIOLENTCategory:Romanian terms derived from French#VIOLENT violent, LatinCategory:Romanian terms borrowed from Latin#VIOLENTCategory:Romanian terms derived from Latin#VIOLENT violentus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /vi.oˈlent/Category:Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation#VIOLENT
Adjective
violent m or n (feminine singular violentă, masculine plural violenți, feminine/neuter plural violente)Category:Romanian lemmas#VIOLENTCategory:Romanian adjectives#VIOLENTCategory:Romanian entries with incorrect language header#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with entries#VIOLENTCategory:Pages with 9 entries#VIOLENT
Declension
| singular | plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
| nominative- accusative | indefinite | violent | violentă | violenți | violente | ||
| definite | violentul | violenta | violenții | violentele | |||
| genitive- dative | indefinite | violent | violente | violenți | violente | ||
| definite | violentului | violentei | violenților | violentelor | |||