VIOLENCE

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does violence mean? 

• VIOLENCE (noun)
  The noun VIOLENCE has 3 senses:

1. an act of aggression (as one against a person who resists)

2. the property of being wild or turbulent

3. a turbulent state resulting in injuries and destruction etc.

  Familiarity information: VIOLENCE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VIOLENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An act of aggression (as one against a person who resists)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

force; violence

Context example:

he may accomplish by craft in the long run what he cannot do by force and violence in the short one

Hypernyms ("violence" is a kind of...):

aggression; hostility (violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "violence"):

domestic violence (violence or physical abuse directed toward your spouse or domestic partner or other members of a household)

road rage (violence exhibited by drivers in traffic)

public violence; riot (a public act of violence by an unruly mob)

Derivation:

violent (effected by force or injury rather than natural causes)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The property of being wild or turbulent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

ferocity; fierceness; furiousness; fury; vehemence; violence; wildness

Context example:

the storm's violence

Hypernyms ("violence" is a kind of...):

intensity; intensiveness (high level or degree; the property of being intense)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "violence"):

savageness; savagery (the property of being untamed and ferocious)

Derivation:

violent (acting with or marked by or resulting from great force or energy or emotional intensity)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A turbulent state resulting in injuries and destruction etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("violence" is a kind of...):

Sturm und Drang; turbulence; upheaval (a state of violent disturbance and disorder (as in politics or social conditions generally))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "violence"):

rage (violent state of the elements)

Derivation:

violent (characterized by violence or bloodshed)

 Context examples 

The young woman's violence when she came to, after I broke the fact of his departure, was beyond all expectations.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He had not been robbed, and there was no particular reason to suspect violence.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Yes, I gather there has been violence, and that the body is left for our inspection.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Tell what?" she asked, wondering at his violence.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

If the violence of her passions, the weakness of her understanding—I do not mean, however, to defend myself.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

A glance at Aylward's resolute face, and at the huge shoulders of Hordle John, had convinced the archers that there was little to be got by violence.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“You need not employ violence,” said a harsh, clear voice.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You see that we hold all the cards, and we have only to fear some sudden act of violence on their part.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Out of this violence, a spicule is born.

(Scientists Uncover Origins of the Sun’s Swirling Spicules, NASA)

I would have pursued my journey, but he placed himself directly in the way, yet looking with a very mild aspect, never offering the least violence.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)