with a vengeance

Idioms

With great violence or energy; also, to an extreme degree. For example, The cottage was filthy and Ruth began cleaning with a vengeance, or December has turned cold with a vengeance. This expression was first recorded in 1533. Also see with a will.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The worries about software stocks—the so-called SaaSpocalypse—returned with a vengeance on Friday, expanding across the tech complex to chips and other hardware plays, as well.

From Barron's

By the dawn of the ’70s, he realized that the times had changed around him: “The era of the singer-songwriter had begun and I was being left behind. I needed to be part of it. I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted it with a vengeance!”

From Los Angeles Times

Aunt Pretty huffed and started crocheting with a vengeance.

From Literature

When you stop taking a GLP-1, “the hunger and food noise symptoms come back with a vengeance,” she says.

From The Wall Street Journal

The second worry is inflation, a risk that disappeared for decades and returned with a vengeance after the Covid-19 pandemic.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023