How to Use vindictive in a Sentence

vindictive

adjective
Definition of vindictivenext
Synonyms for vindictivenext
  • For a moment, Min felt a vindictive joy that the girls already knew to keep the truth about him from the world.
    — Junot Díaz, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2018
  • The vindictive fever churning inside the Russian leader came to a head on the eve of the war in Ukraine.
    — Roger Cohen Nanna Heitmann, New York Times, 6 Aug. 2023
  • That was vindictive, Smith then argued, in a bid to get all the charges dismissed.
    — Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press, 3 May 2020
  • Mr Ramaphosa should not be vindictive and, mindful of the precedent, he should be seen to be fair.
    — The Economist, 22 Feb. 2018
  • Not a word in print or on the air has shown this family to be a vindictive people.
    — Mercury News Readers, The Mercury News, 12 June 2017
  • And a vindictive spirit might have something to do with it.
    — Marta Balaga, Variety, 16 Mar. 2024
  • Even by the dismal standards of the trade, Bangladesh’s politicians are a brutal, vindictive bunch.
    — The Economist, 5 Sep. 2019
  • Vardy was pregnant at the time of the post and has received unimaginably vindictive threats to both her and her baby’s life.
    — Raven Smith, Vogue, 12 May 2022
  • There is a side of de Gaulle that is merely hateful: vindictive and vain and deeply selfish.
    — Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 12 Aug. 2021
  • Don't send your photo to someone who may be vindictive or may want to seek revenge on you in the future.
    — Carolyn Twersky, Seventeen, 22 Aug. 2019
  • Is this the sort of vindictive trouble that Enrico feared?
    — Tom Nolan, WSJ, 18 Mar. 2022
  • Yet Herman can’t help but feel for his clients, even at their most vindictive moments.
    — Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Oct. 2022
  • Mac and Charlie’s game pieces being smashed to ruins by the game’s crazed, vindictive winners.
    — Rachel Simon, Vulture, 30 Nov. 2021
  • Your mother must be proud to have raised such a small, petty, vindictive person.
    — Michael Harriot, The Root, 11 May 2018
  • There are many who have said it, in vindictive responses and Twitter threads.
    — Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2022
  • Even so, the player himself doesn't believe fans were setting out to be vindictive.
    — Amanda Davies, CNN, 5 July 2017
  • The strength of our moralizing instinct is shown in the vindictive nature of our assessments of right and wrong in sports.
    — Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
  • The relentlessly vindictive Left should allow this man to do his job.
    — Deroy Murdock, National Review, 17 Apr. 2020
  • Marcus was fired by a vindictive board even though the Handy Dan division was not in bankruptcy.
    — Harvey MacKay, Star Tribune, 2 Aug. 2020
  • Often, the sources might face a threat to their career or even their safety, whether from a vindictive boss or a hostile government.
    — New York Times, 10 May 2022
  • Instead of the strong reformer, the world now saw a vindictive ruler whose actions exuded paranoia.
    — Bloomberg.com, 18 May 2018
  • But a vindictive rival schemed against him, and he was dismissed from the army during a 1763 peacetime downsizing.
    — Erick Trickey, Smithsonian, 26 Apr. 2017
  • But an attorney for Unsworth portrayed Musk as vain and vindictive.
    — Timothy B. Lee, Ars Technica, 3 Dec. 2019
  • The Aces further maintain that too much time passed between Hamby’s post and allegedly vindictive acts for there to be a causal link.
    — Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 3 Sep. 2019
  • But a vindictive rival schemed against him, and he was dismissed from the army during a 1763 peacetime downsizing.
    — Erick Trickey, Smithsonian, 26 Apr. 2017
  • For the vindictive members of TaJinYo, Tablo was an 엄친아 who needed to be revealed as an opportunistic liar.
    — Jae-Ha Kim, Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2023
  • In fact, even more than Holmes’s, Balwani’s behavior ranged from petty to straight-up vindictive.
    — Kevin Nguyen, GQ, 21 May 2018
  • The presidents of the remaining CAA institutions have a choice not to be vindictive jerks.
    — Dan Wolken, USA TODAY, 4 Nov. 2021
  • Plus, deliberately poking the bear and not leaving on good terms can cause the firm left behind to be vindictive.
    — Mindy Diamond, Forbes, 20 Apr. 2023
  • Red is the anti-princess living in Wonderland under her mother’s cold and vindictive reign.
    — Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 9 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'vindictive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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