Violence

Violence refers to acts —typically connotative with aggressive and criminal behaviour —which intend to cause or is causing of injury to persons, animals, or (in limited cases) property. Harm to non-human animals may be considered violence, though this depends on the social mores related to animal cruelty, and the situational context in which such acts take place. The concept of "violence" can also be extended to any abuse, including even non-physical verbal abuse. Damage to property is typically considered minor relative to violence against persons.

Metaphorical Violence

In Britain and continental Europe, the word "violence" is used in statements describing politics in a manner which would confuse those expecting such a physical word to be always taken literally. These stretch from Jean-Paul Sartre's phrase "inert violence" as a metaphor for social injustice to the use of the word to refer to angry speeches within in a parliament hall that attack and belittle individuals or groups.

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