with a vengeance
23
6.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
con más fuerza que nunca
- Donna Fausta, after a period of decent mourning, set to work with a vengeance.
- return with a vengeance
- come with a vengeance
- back with a vengeance
But then, you know, then it came back with a vengeance.
- But then, you know, then it came back with a vengeance.
- And I think that JA is going to come back with a vengeance.
- The Bible is very clear that when he comes back, he's going to come back and he's going to come back with a vengeance.
Examples
-
My family still observes the cocktail hour with a vengeance.
-
But by the end of the Bush administration, declinism had returned with a vengeance.
Academic text (2009) -
What people want now is a good time, and they want it with a vengeance.
Fiction book (1998) -
All this stuff just brings out the Irish in me with a vengeance.
-
To make his point, Richard attacks the blood quantum issue with a vengeance.
Academic text (2004) -
Al-Ani returned to the country and resumed his theater activity with a vengeance.
Academic text (1997) -
In Argentina, by contrast, inflation returned with a vengeance, leading to two bouts with hyperinflation.
Academic text (1994) -
Atom has arrived onto the WRB scene with a vengeance, using a style, some would call it human-like, that bot fighting has rarely seen.
-
Mimesis, which was jettisoned by modernist and postmodernist world makers, returns with a vengeance to guide the reader's reconstruction.
Academic text (1995) -
The wildfire spread with a vengeance, consuming everything in its path.
Synonyms
86
7.8
With a lot of energy and very quickly
75
7.9
Happening very quickly, with great effort or very strongly
41
7.4
To speak or act with strong feeling and force
38
3.0
In a very angry and energetic way
13
8.1
Act very quickly and with great effort
12
5.6
In a very strong and angry way
8
8.2
Very quickly and with great energy
6
8.1
Very quickly and with great success
4
7.4
To do something with great energy and effort
4
8.6
To a very great degree
2
7.2
In a very strong and determined way, often to attack or confront someone
1
9.2
To do something very quickly or with great effort
In a very strong, angry, or violent way
Antonyms
How Intense
Surface Forms
Morphology
with + a + vengeance
The sense 'with great intensity' is a metaphorical extension of 'vengeance' (literally 'revenge', implying forceful retaliation), so there is a recognisable link to the constituent meanings. However the phrase is not strictly compositional—it no longer denotes literal revenge—so a B1 learner who knows the words may not reliably infer the idiomatic intensifier meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
With a vengeance comes from the word vengeance, which means revenge. Imagine someone coming back determined to get revenge and doing things with great force, and that strong image is why with a vengeance now means 'very strongly'.