requite

American  

[ri-kwahyt] / rɪˈkwaɪt /

verb (used with object)

requited, requiting

1. to make repayment or return for (service, benefits, etc.).

   Synonyms:

   reimburse, remunerate, pay, compensate, recompense, reward, repay

2. to make retaliation for (a wrong, injury, etc.); avenge.

   Synonyms:

   revenge

   Antonyms:

   forgive

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.

---

requite British  

/ rɪˈkwaɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to make return to (a person for a kindness or injury); repay with a similar action

---

Other Word Forms

• requitable adjective
• requitement noun
• requiter noun
• unrequitable adjective
• unrequiting adjective

Etymology

Origin of requite

1520–30; re- + obsolete quite, variant of quit ¹

Explanation

You can requite a friend’s kindness by doing your friend a favor or by being kind in return. Requite means "to repay or return." To requite something is to return it. However, saying that you want to requite a gift means that you want to give something in return for it — not that you want to return the gift to the store for some quick cash. Requite is often used in the context of love; if you requite someone’s love, you love that person back. Requite can also be used in a negative sense. Someone who wants to requite an injury wants payback for it.

Example Sentences

But still I crane my neck and track them at every opportunity, hoping I suppose to requite their deep indifference for me with my high regard for them.

From The Guardian • Jul. 27, 2013

I think that’s every girl’s dream, that this punk who doesn’t really like us and doesn’t really requite our love, that he’s going to change all the sudden.

From Time • Jan. 28, 2013

Therefore, in "the world as it is," you must requite evil with lesser evil.

From Salon • Aug. 18, 2011

Did Mr. Anderson requite Ms. McKinney’s love, as she insists?

From New York Times • Jul. 14, 2011

Replied Odysseus: “The young men, yes. And may the gods requite those insolent puppies for the game they play in a home not their own. They have no decency.”

From "The Odyssey" by Homer