Dictionary

ultraviolence en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Latin ūls Proto-Indo-European *-teros? Latin -ter Old Latin -ād Latin -ā Latin ultrābor. English ultra- Latin violēns /violentus Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin violentiabor. Old French violencebor. Middle English violence English violence English ultraviolence From ultra- + violence.

Meanings

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

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