Violence is a general term to describe actions, usually deliberate, that cause or intend to cause injury to people, animals, or non-living objects. Violence is often associated with aggression. There are essentially two kinds of violence: random violence, which describes small-scale acts of random or targeted violence, and coordinated violence, which describes actions carried out by sanctioned or unsanctioned violent groups, such as war and terrorism.
Certain forms of violence are socially and legally sanctioned, others consist of crimes within a society. Different societies apply different standards relating to approved and non-approved forms of violence. Sometimes violence that is not accepted by a society's norms is called cruel.
Violence can be unilateral, while fighting impliess a reaction, at least a defensive one.