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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 for requite

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

Antonyms for requite

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

Related Words for requite

satisfy, quit, return, redress, pay, make, reciprocate, redeem, remunerate, revenge, repay, settle, respond, recompense, reimburse, retaliate, indemnify, reward, restitution

Examples from the Web for requite

Historical Examples of requite

  • 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 for requite

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