retaliation
Americannoun
-
retaliations
plural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of retaliation
Explanation
Retaliation is an act of revenge. Before you initiate retaliation on someone who has wronged you, consider whether he or she might have a ninja alter ego and a set of nunchucks stashed away. The noun retaliation stems from the Latin retaliare, meaning “pay back in kind.” Notice the word kind in that definition. Retaliation used to have both good and evil connotations. Now, though, it’s important to read that kind as synonymous with type or sort because retaliation has since lost its positive sense. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
Vocabulary lists containing retaliation
Fahrenheit 451
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The Crucible
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The Hate U Give
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The department is facing scores of lawsuits by officers who claim they faced retaliation after speaking out in the form of poor job evaluations, harassment, demotions and even termination.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
These attacks were concentrated in a route close to the Omani coast and prompted extensive U.S. military retaliation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
"Production and supply have deteriorated to the point where it is going to be difficult for the mills to stay open," he said, speaking anonymously because he feared retaliation.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
Plus, warplanes from Bahrain and Kuwait struck Iran in a rare Gulf retaliation, and a massive rustic lodge built for an equally large family is for sale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Feeling indignant that he was not taken into his tutor’s confidence, he set his wits to work to devise some proper retaliation for the slight.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
The cooling of tensions could draw U.S. investors back to Chinese stocks—after wariness about tit-for-tat retaliations between the two superpowers—and boost that market.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
American forces have at times mounted retaliations, but in limited fashion to avoid instigating a full-fledged conflict.
From New York Times ● Jan. 21, 2024
And despite consistently pushing forward against a slick counter-striker in Adesanya, Strickland was able to avoid the majority of the champion's retaliations.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2023
Chastain got into both of them at different points, leading to a series of on-track retaliations.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 5, 2022
He might forgive one, for he showed as he grew towards man's estate, and passed through the various vicissitudes of school and college life, a certain stern generosity of temper, and contempt for small retaliations.
From Diana Tempest, Volume I (of 3) by Cholmondeley, Mary
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
