Violent
adjectiveUsing or involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or destroy.
How to spell violent
7 letters · 3 syllables
How to pronounce violent
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does violent mean?
- adjectiveUsing or involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or destroy.
Violent in a sentence
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The police were called after a violent dispute broke out next door.
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A violent storm tore the roof tiles from several houses.
Where does violent come from?
Language of origin: Latin
Violent comes from the Latin adjective violentus, meaning 'forceful', 'vehement', or 'impetuous', which was built on the noun vis, meaning 'force' or 'strength'. The same vis root lies behind 'violate', which originally meant to treat something with forceful disrespect. English took violent in during the 1300s by way of Old French, where the form was already violent, and it carried the sense of physical force used to harm or to break things. Over time the word stretched beyond bodily attack to describe any intense, uncontrolled force, such as a violent storm or a violent argument. The spelling stays close to its Latin source, with the tell-tale 'vio' opening and the unstressed '-lent' ending that English writers can blur when sounding it out.
How the word is built
- viol- (from Latin vis: force, strength)
- -ent (adjective suffix denoting a quality)
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