---
title: wreak — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «wreak» in the school dictionary: To cause harm or damage, especially as a way of getting revenge, as in «wreak vengeance». Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# wreak

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**Who acts:** way, witch, He, his · **What happens:** cause, get, wreak, want, anger · **To what, where:** harm, revenge, vengeance, anger, stones

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«wreak» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [wreak in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/wreak.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To cause harm or damage, especially as a way of getting revenge, as in «wreak vengeance».

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:wreak:m1:1
# text = To cause harm or damage, especially as a way of getting revenge, as in «wreak vengeance».
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	cause	cause	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	damage	damage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
11	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
13	revenge	revenge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	wreak	wreak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	vengeance	vengeance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | to-infinitive |  | harm or damage |  |  |  | as a way | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition harm=Patient |
| 2 | **get** | gerund | a way *not said here* | revenge |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer revenge=Stimulus |
| 3 | **wreak** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | vengeance |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The witch wanted to wreak revenge on the boy.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:wreak:x1:1
# text = The witch wanted to wreak revenge on the boy.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	wreak	wreak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	revenge	revenge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | the witch |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **wreak** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the witch *not said here* | revenge |  |  |  | on the boy | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He wreaked his anger on the stones.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:wreak:x2:1
# text = He wreaked his anger on the stones.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wreaked	wreak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	anger	anger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wreak** | past | He | his anger |  | the stones |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **anger** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom anger «feeling intransitive»: poss=agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The storm wreaked havoc on the town.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:wreak:x3:1
# text = The storm wreaked havoc on the town.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	wreaked	wreak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	amod	_	_
4	havoc	havoc	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wreak** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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