# violent

Pronunciation: say "VY-uh-luhnt" /ˈvaɪ.ə.lənt/

## Adjective

1. Involving physical conflict in which people are attacked or hurt.
   - Simple: Full of fighting, hitting, or other ways people can hurt each other.
   - _The demonstration became violent as protesters clashed with riot police._
   - _He has a history of violent confrontations with his neighbors._
2. Inclined or likely to use physical force to harm others.
   - Simple: Quick to hit, attack, or hurt other people.
   - _He became violent whenever he drank too much._
   - _The facility houses some of the country's most violent offenders._
3. Marked by extreme physical force or powerful, uncontrolled motion.
   - Simple: Using very strong, powerful force or movement.
   - _A violent explosion shook the entire building._
   - _Violent winds uprooted trees all along the coast._
4. Extremely intense, acute, or sharp in degree.
   - Simple: Very strong and sharp, like sudden bad pain.
   - _She woke in the night with a violent fever._
   - _A violent craving for sugar hit him every afternoon._
5. Strikingly bright or intense, as of a color.
   - Simple: Very bright and strong, like a bold color.
   - _The painter favored violent hues that dominated the canvas._
   - _Violent streaks of crimson lit the evening sky._
6. Brought about by force rather than occurring naturally or spontaneously.
   - Simple: Caused by force instead of happening in a natural way.
   - _Records suggested the king had come to a violent death._
   - _A violent overthrow of the government left the country in chaos._

## Verb

7. To urge someone with violence toward doing or accepting something. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To use force or rough pressure to push someone into doing something.

## Noun

8. A person who attacks another; an assailant. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person who attacks or hurts another person.

## Origin

Comes from Middle English violent, from Old French violent, from Latin violentus, which derives from vīs ("strength"). It replaced the native Old English word stræc.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/violent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).