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requite

[ri-kwahyt]
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verb (used with object), re·quit·ed, re·quit·ing.
  1. to make repayment or return for (service, benefits, etc.).
  2. to make retaliation for (a wrong, injury, etc.); avenge.
  3. to make return to (a person, group, etc.) for service, benefits, etc.
  4. to retaliate on (a person, group, etc.) for a wrong, injury, etc.
  5. to give or do in return.
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Origin of requite

1520–30; re- + obsolete quite, variant of quit1
Related formsre·quit·a·ble, adjectivere·quite·ment, nounre·quit·er, nounun·re·quit·a·ble, adjectiveun·re·quit·ing, adjective

Synonyms

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1. repay, reward, recompense, compensate, pay, remunerate, reimburse. 2. revenge.

Antonyms

2. forgive.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for requite

Historical Examples

  • Have you grown sleek and fat and smug in my service that you should requite me thus?

    Bardelys the Magnificent

    Rafael Sabatini

  • Well then, do they requite your gifts of gold with gratitude?

  • If they kill us, how can we requite them for our obligations?

    The Strollers

    Frederic S. Isham

  • There's many a coinage costlier than ever the mint fashioned; he may requite me thus.

    Roland Cashel

    Charles James Lever

  • He had aroused her passion and no amount of long-distance love could requite it.

    The Perfectionists

    Arnold Castle

British Dictionary definitions for requite

requite

verb
  1. (tr) to make return to (a person for a kindness or injury); repay with a similar action
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Derived Formsrequitable, adjectiverequitement, nounrequiter, noun

Word Origin

C16: re- + obsolete quite to discharge, repay; see quit
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for requite

v.

c.1400, "repay" (for good or ill), from re- "back" + Middle English quite "clear, pay up," earlier variant of quit (see quit). Related: Requited; requiting.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper