ultraviolence

U1L1T1R1A1V4I1O1L1E1N1C3E1

noun

Unnecessary, unprovoked (usually brutal) violence; violent acts simply for the thrill and entertainment of it.

RareScrabble 18

Meanings

nounultraviolence (uncountable)

alternative ultra-violence

  1. uncountableUnnecessary, unprovoked (usually brutal) violence; violent acts simply for the thrill and entertainment of it.

    I gave them the ultra-violence, the crasting, the dratsing, the old in-out in-out, the lot, right up to this night's veshch with the bugatty starry ptitsa with the mewing kots and koshkas.

    1962, Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, published 1963, →ISBN, page 69
    2 more examples

    Sam and Max are Freelance Police, irreverent and slightly insane, toting guns and determined to bring outrageous ultraviolence and fluffy kittens to the world. They also happen to be a dog and rabbit, respectively.

    2008, Gene Kannenberg, 500 Essential Graphic Novels, Ilex Press, →ISBN, page 15

    But by the early 2000s, we were seeing fewer games like DOOM that dealt in the fantasia of ultraviolence and more games that tried to replicate the everyday violence of military encounters.

    2021 October 29, Trevor Strunk, “How To Get Away With Making An Ultraviolent Video Game”, in Defector

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  2. Latinūls
  3. Latinultrā
  4. Englishultra-
  5. Latinviolēns /violentus
  6. Latinviolentia
  7. Old Frenchviolence
  8. Middle Englishviolence
  9. Englishviolence
  10. Englishultraviolence

From ultra- + violence.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ultraviolence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ultraviolence

MLA

“ultraviolence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ultraviolence. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ultraviolence,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ultraviolence.

Source: ultraviolence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.