violence

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Characterized by physical force

Nouns

1. violence, vehemence, intensity, impetuosity; boisterousness; turbulence, riot, row, rumpus, devil to pay, the fat in the fire; turmoil, disorder; agitation; storm, tempest, rough weather; squall, earthquake, upheaval, cataclysm, volcano, thunderstorm, cyclone, tornado, hurricane; maelstrom, whirlpool. See illegality, excitability, impulse.

2. (wildness) severity, ferocity, ferociousness, fierceness, rage, fury; fit, frenzy, paroxysm, orgasm; force, brute force; outrage, strain, shock, spasm, convulsion, throe; hysterics, tantrum, passion, excitement.

3. (violent reaction) outbreak, outburst; burst, discharge, volley, explosion, blast, detonation, backfire, rush, eruption, blowup; torrent; storm center.

4. (source of violence) explosive, cap, fuse, proximity fuse, detonator; powder, gunpowder, smokeless powder, guncotton; cordite, melinite, lyddite, dynamite, nitroglycerine, TNT (trinitrotoluene).

5. (violent person) fury, fiend, dragon, demon, tiger; wild beast; fire-eater, hellion, hellcat, virago, termagant, beldame; madcap; rabble rouser, lynch mob, terrorist, agitator, agent provocateur; thug, tough, strongarm man, gunman, hooligan, hoodlum, hellcat, firebrand, hothead, hotspur, predator, ruffian, roughneck, exterminator, destroyer, berserker, aggressor; anarchist, urban guerrilla. Slang, tommy-buster, rough trade, bad actor; night rider, mad dog. See evildoer.

6. (victim of violence) battered child or spouse.

Verbs

1. be violent, run high; ferment, effervesce; rampage; run wild, run riot; break the peace; run amuck, raise a riot; lash out, make the fur fly; bluster, rage, roar, riot, storm; seethe, boil [over]; fume, foam, come in like a lion, wreak, wreck, spread havoc, ride roughshod, out-Herod Herod; spread like wildfire. Informal, make or kick up a row, raise the devil, raise Cain, raise the roof; roughhouse; fly off the handle; blow one's top, let off steam.

6. break, fly, or burst out; explode, implode, go off, fly, detonate, thunder, blow up, flash, flare, burst; shock, strain.

7. stir up, excite, incite, urge, lash, stimulate; inflame, kindle, foment, fulminate, touch off, set off; convulse, infuriate, madden, lash into or goad to fury; fan the flames, add fuel to the flames.

Adjectives

1. violent, vehement; ungentle, boisterous, rough-and-tumble, wild, untamed; impetuous, frenetic, bestial, barbaric; rampant; dog-eat-dog.

2. turbulent; disorderly, blustering, raging, troublous, riotous, tumultuous, obstreperous, uproarious; extravagant, unmitigated; ravening, frenzied, desperate (see rashness); infuriated, furious, outrageous, frantic, hysterical; fiery, flaming, scorching, [red-]hot; seething; savage, fierce, ferocious, barbarous; headstrong, ungovernable, uncontrollable; convulsive, explosive; volcanic; stormy.

Adverbs — violently, etc.; amain; by storm, by force, by main force; with might and main; tooth and nail; with a vengeance; headlong.

Quotations — Force, unaided by judgment, collapses through its own weight (Horace), All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword (Bible), They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind (Bible), A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he cannot sit on it (William Inge), Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively, and completely (Leon Trotsky), A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard (Martin Luther King), The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of non-violence has been the organization of violence (Joan Baez), In violence, we forget who we are (Mary McCarthy), Violence is good for those who have nothing to lose (Jean-Paul Sartre).

Antonyms, see moderation.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Violent disturbance]

Syn. rampage, tumult, disorder, clash, onslaught, struggle, destruction; see also confusion 1 , disturbance 2 , uproar .

2. [Violent conduct]

Syn. fury, force, vehemence, injury, frenzy, brutality, savagery; see also intensity 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. physical anger and destruction brute force, manhandling, brutality, roughness, terrorism, bloodshed, killing, murder, destructiveness, barbarity, savagery, ferocity, fisticuffs, *rumble, rioting, physical abuse, pummeling, cruelty, torture, *when push comes to shove. ''The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual crime. —Max Stirner.

2. intense force of nature energy, explosiveness, storminess, ferocity, fury, turbulence, wildness, intensity, fierceness, upheaval, cataclysm, eruption, blowup.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. Power used to overcome resistance: coercion, compulsion, constraint, duress, force, pressure, strength. See ATTACK. 2. Exceptionally great concentration, power, or force especially in activity: depth (often used in plural), ferociousness, ferocity, fierceness, fury, intensity, pitch, severity, vehemence, vehemency. See BIG, STRONG.