to inflict or execute punishment: wreak revenge; visit; vent; unleash: He wreaked his anger on the office staff.
Not to be confused with:
wreck – destroy; devastate; shatter; tear down: The mob will wreck the goal posts.; the remains of something ruined: The tornado turned the house into a wreck.
1. To bring about (damage or destruction, for example): wreak havoc.
2. To inflict (vengeance or punishment) upon a person.
3. To give vent to or act upon (one's feelings): "He sought for some excuse to wreak his hatred upon Tarzan"(Edgar Rice Burroughs).
4. Archaic To take vengeance for; avenge.
[Middle English wreken, from Old English wrecan.]
Usage Note: Wreak is sometimes confused with wreck, perhaps because the wreaking of damage may leave a wreck: The storm wreaked (not wrecked ) havoc along the coast. The past tense and past participle of wreak is wreaked, not wrought, which is an alternative past tense and past participle of work.
1. to inflict or execute (punishment, vengeance, etc.): to wreak havoc on the enemy.
2. to carry out the promptings of (one's rage, ill humor, etc.), as on a victim or object: to wreak one's anger on subordinates.
[before 900; Middle English wreken, Old English wrecan to avenge, c. Old Saxon wrekan, Old High German rehhan, Old Norse reka to drive, avenge, Gothic wrikan to persecute]
wreak - cause to happen or to occur as a consequence; "I cannot work a miracle"; "wreak havoc"; "bring comments"; "play a joke"; "The rain brought relief to the drought-stricken area"
create, make - make or cause to be or to become; "make a mess in one's office"; "create a furor"
work, act - have an effect or outcome; often the one desired or expected; "The voting process doesn't work as well as people thought"; "How does your idea work in practice?"; "This method doesn't work"; "The breaks of my new car act quickly"; "The medicine works only if you take it with a lot of water"
Tarzan knew the Russian, in whose power they were, so well that he could not doubt but that the man, filled with rage that Jane had once escaped him, and knowing that Tarzan might be close upon his trail, would wreak without further loss of time whatever vengeance his polluted mind might be able to conceive.
It was in a state of mind superinduced by these conditions that La led forth her jabbering company to retrieve the sacred emblem of her high office and wreak vengeance upon the author of her wrongs.
But they did not know that Norman of Torn was but playing with his victim, that he might make the torture long drawn out, and wreak as terrible a punishment upon Peter of Colfax, before he killed him, as the Baron had visited upon Bertrade de Montfort because she would not yield to his base desires.
There was even an ease and cheerfulness about her air and manner that I made no pretension to; but there was a depth of malice in her too expressive eye that plainly told me I was not forgiven; for, though she no longer hoped to win me to herself, she still hated her rival, and evidently delighted to wreak her spite on me.
At heart they hate their horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who stand for everything they have not, and for all they most crave and never can attain.
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