Vindictive | Definition of vindictive by Merriam-Webster

Full Definition of VINDICTIVE

1

a : disposed to seek revenge : vengeful

b : intended for or involving revenge

2

: intended to cause anguish or hurt : spiteful

— vin·dic·tive·ly adverb

— vin·dic·tive·ness noun

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Examples of VINDICTIVE

Well, maybe actually waging vendettas is a bad idea, but to be known for your vindictiveness can be a great advantage, for then people will take care not to cross you. And maybe the surest way of acquiring a reputation for vindictiveness is actually to be vindictive. —David Papineau, New York Times Book Review, 11 May 1997
And though his [John Simon's] caustic wit can sometimes sound more personally vindictive than objectively critical, it allows him to plow through a lot of literary pretentiousness. —Andrea Barnet, New York Times Book Review, 19 Mar. 1989
The bear, seen in many aspects as humanlike, was subject to ambivalent attitudes: mainly, he was seen as a stand-in for benevolent supernaturals, but sometimes also as a dangerous and at times a vindictive and harmful one. —William W. Fitzhugh & Aron Crowell, Crossroads of Continents, 1988
A machine gun lashed at him from across the river. … In the darkness, it spat a vindictive white light like an acetylene torch, and its sound was terrifying. —Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead, 1948
It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering, for the most part, makes men petty and vindictive. —W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, 1919
In observing so long a silence I have been influenced much more by a vindictive purpose,—a purpose to punish you for your suspicion that I could possibly feel myself hurt or offended by any critical suggestion of yours … —William Cowper, 26 Feb. 1791, in William Cowper's Letters, Edward Verrall Lucas, editor, 1924
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