Vindicative

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Tending to prove innocence or clear someone from blame ; motivated by a desire to punish wrongdoing or avenge an injury
2. Serving to defend or support a claim of righteousness ; driven by the impulse to retaliate against those who have caused harm
3. Acting to establish the truth or legitimacy of something ; seeking retribution or vengeance against a person or offense

Etymology: "Vindicative" is a word many readers will take for a misspelling of "vindictive," and it is not one. It is a real but rare adjective, and its history runs through Latin before it reaches English by way of French. The Latin root is "vindicare," meaning to claim, avenge, or set free, and a Medieval Latin form "vindicativus" carried the sense of avenging or punishing. From there the word passed into Middle French as "vindicatif" before it appeared in English. The reason the word looks like "vindictive" is that the two come from the same Latin stem and have run side by side for centuries. "Vindictive" descends from the same Latin source by a different route and settled on the sense of a desire for revenge, while "vindicative" stayed closer to the older idea of punitive or avenging action. The overlap in form and meaning is why dictionaries treat the two as near relatives and why readers so often confuse them.

Synonyms: vindictive, retaliatory

Antonyms: forgiving, merciful