Vengefulness is associated with a desire for retribution, often cast in a vindictive light. Yet, as Adam Smith writes, vengefulness is in certain circumstances justified, and indeed, encouraged: "We are rejoiced to see him attack his adversary in his turn, and are eager and ready to assist him whenever he exerts himself for defence, or even for vengeance within a certain degree."

In the context of the schema, vengefulness is a response to a party's breach of fairness norms. In this sense, any party exhibiting vengeful behavior may be said to have been wronged, but the extent to which the past wrong justifies the vengeful behavior is a complex function of many factors, not the least of which is how wrong society judges the breaching party's actions to have been.

References

Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759).