adverb

• 1Using physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.

  ‘I was once violently assaulted on a bus’

  More example sentences

  • ‘protesters clashed violently with the police’
  • ‘He claimed that it was a part of a larger strategy to expel them violently from areas to be farmed by colonists.’
  • ‘He drives a taxi because he cannot sleep, but his nightly runs through the city's dirtiest neighbourhoods compel him to act violently.’
  • ‘There are consequences when he deals with things violently, and he lies frequently because his every misguided placement of trust is betrayed.’
  • ‘Romance ends abruptly and violently when she kills Jeff's partner.’
  • ‘He stubbornly goes forth armed with only his ideals as his men are violently cut down by enemy fire.’

• 2In a very strong or vigorous manner.

  ‘he coughed violently’

  More example sentences

  • ‘the aircraft began violently shaking’
  • ‘Examples from the artist's "Torn Map" series at first look like scraps of paper violently ripped from a whole.’
  • ‘The ballet was violently booed at its premiere in 1913.’
  • ‘She spits violently at her reflection.’
  • ‘When the pressure is released, the juice begins to boil violently and the lime is added.’
  • ‘The song has a stormy quality that lends itself to images of waves crashing violently against rocky shorelines.’

  1. 2.1To a very great degree; intensely.
     ‘I found myself violently disagreeing with him’
     More example sentences

     • ‘he woke up feeling violently ill’
     • ‘During this time, his paintings were brightly coloured abstracts executed with violently expressive brushwork.’
     • ‘The work is violently powerful, its overriding message being the oppression of the Mexican lower classes.’
     • ‘The border is echoed in the conglomeration of baroque forms that violently jut in from the bottom left.’
     • ‘Initially, the group was moderately enthusiastic about the idea of popular architecture—or at least not violently opposed to it.’
     • ‘In the mid-distance a cottage is burning, as smoke violently billows and fumes.’