From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishvendettaven‧det‧ta /venˈdetə/ noun 1 [countable] a situation in which one person or group tries for a long time to harm another personvendetta against He accused the British media of pursuing a vendetta against him. the victim of a political vendetta2 [countable, uncountable] a long violent argument between two groups or people, especially one that is about something that happened in the past SYN feud The two sides have been engaged in a bitter private vendetta.vendetta between vendettas between rival gangs
Examples from the Corpus
vendetta• One of the gang members began a vendetta against her after she testified.• When she testifies against them, one begins a vendetta against her.• Sure, I have a vendetta against him and he has one against me.• It was a vendetta, any child would have seen that.• West Yorkshire police emphasised yesterday that no evidence had emerged to link the killing to any vendetta or previous trouble.• Ellis claims he is the victim of a conspiracy with a personal vendetta against him.• The lure of mutual profit wiped out, at least temporarily, their personal vendetta.• The recent bombings may be a sign of a renewed vendetta between rival separatists.• The killing was the result of a long-standing vendetta over gambling profits.political vendetta• In closed-door sessions with House Republicans, Gingrich blamed his ethics problems on a Democratic political vendetta.Origin vendetta (1800-1900) Italian “vengeance”, from Latin vindicta; → VINDICTIVE 