violence
C1Formal, academic, legal, journalistic, everyday
Definition
Meaning
The use of physical force intended to cause injury, damage, or death.
Intense force, severity, or passion, either physical or emotional; the unlawful exercise of physical force.
Linguistics
Semantic Notes
Primarily an uncountable mass noun. Can refer to both individual acts and a general state/condition. Can be abstracted to describe intensity in non-physical contexts (e.g., 'the violence of the storm').
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant lexical differences. Both use 'violence' as the primary term. Legal definitions may vary slightly by jurisdiction but the term is identical.
Connotations
Identical core connotations. In media/political discourse, associated terms may differ (e.g., UK 'public disorder' vs. US 'civil unrest' often involve violence).
Frequency
Similar high frequency in both varieties due to its centrality in news, law, and social discourse.
Vocabulary
Collocations
Grammar
Valency Patterns
violence against somebody/somethingviolence between groupsviolence over somethinguse of violencecampaign of violenceVocabulary
Synonyms
Strong
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “do violence to (something) = to distort or badly misrepresent”
- “an orgy of violence = a period of extreme and uncontrolled violence”
Usage
Context Usage
Business
Rare, except in contexts like 'workplace violence' policies or risk management reports.
Academic
Frequent in sociology, political science, law, psychology, and media studies. Often qualified (e.g., 'structural violence', 'symbolic violence').
Everyday
Common in news reports and discussions about crime, protests, or domestic issues.
Technical
Used in legal statutes, police reports, medical notes (e.g., 'assault-related injuries'), and conflict studies.
Examples
By Part of Speech
verb
British English
- The protest was violently dispersed by police.
American English
- The suspect violently resisted arrest.
Examples
By CEFR Level
- The film has too much violence.
- Violence is wrong.
- The government condemned the violence at the demonstration.
- Domestic violence is a serious problem.
- The novel explores the cycle of violence in a war-torn society.
- There are concerns that the rhetoric could incite further violence.
- The commission's report analyzed the structural violence inherent in the system.
- His interpretation does violence to the original text's nuanced meaning.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Think of VIOLIN + ENCE. A VIOLIN played with extreme force (ENCE) can metaphorically represent violent, jarring sounds.
Conceptual Metaphor
VIOLENCE IS A LIQUID/STORM ('an outbreak of violence', 'a wave of violence', 'the storm of violence subsided').
Watch out
Common Pitfalls
Translation Traps (for Russian speakers)
- Avoid direct false friend with Russian 'волюнтаризм' (voluntarism/unwarranted initiative), which is unrelated.
- Russian 'насилие' maps directly to 'violence'. 'Жестокость' is closer to 'cruelty'.
- Be careful with collocations: 'применение насилия' = 'use of violence', not 'application of violence'.
Common Mistakes
- Using as a countable noun incorrectly (*'three violences'). Use 'acts of violence'.
- Confusing 'violent' (adj) with 'violence' (n) in structures: 'He is violence' is wrong; 'He is violent' is correct.
- Misspelling as 'violance'.
Practice
Quiz
Which phrase is a common idiom using 'violence'?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No, while the core meaning is physical, it is often extended to emotional or psychological harm (e.g., 'verbal violence') and to describe intense natural forces.
Rarely. It is primarily an uncountable noun. The countable use is archaic/poetic (e.g., 'the violences of history'). Use 'an act of violence' instead.
Aggression is a broader term for hostile behaviour or feelings, which may not be physical. Violence specifically implies physical force intended to hurt or damage.
It's an academic term describing social structures or institutions that cause harm to people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs, e.g., systemic poverty or discrimination.
Collections
Part of a collection
Crime and Justice
B1 · 46 words · Vocabulary for law, crime and the justice system.