retaliation

American  

[ri-tal-ee-ay-shuhn] / rɪˌtæl iˈeɪ ʃən /

noun

• retaliations
  plural

1. the act of retaliating; return of like for like; reprisal.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• counterretaliation
  noun
• nonretaliation
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• retaliations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of retaliation

First recorded in 1575–85; retaliate + -ion

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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.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

retaliation retaliations

After seizing the Professor Molchanov, they feared that keeping dozens of Russians stranded in Barentsburg could prompt retaliation from Moscow.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 25, 2026

They need to socialize a language of accountability that promotes rule of law, democracy, and due process while eschewing talk of retribution, retaliation, or political payback.

From Slate ● Oct. 21, 2026

Six months after the board heard their concerns, the three employees sued the organization for retaliation and wrongful termination.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026

“With Riyadh promising retaliation and Washington weighing direct intervention, further airstrikes risk fueling another cycle of escalation rather than bringing the attacks to an end,” she said.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 12, 2026

Was Constance organizing the retaliation correctly without him?

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

The moves follow a familiar pattern in U.S.-China negotiations of “limited escalations, symbolic retaliations, and carefully timed policy signals designed to probe the other side’s bottom line,” Gao said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2025

Mr Raghavan is alluding to two previous major retaliations by India in 2016 and 2019.

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2025

Experts say that the war-fighting plans in general go from warning shots to single strikes to multiple retaliations and that the hardest question is whether there are reliable ways to prevent a conflict from escalating.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2022

The agreement — which still needs to be finalized — comes after years of diplomatic tit-for-tat retaliations that have left the embassy badly understaffed, down from 1,200 personnel five years ago to just 120 now.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 3, 2021

There have been skirmishes, successes, retreats, surprises, massacres, retaliations; there is news from Niagara and Oswego on far away Lake Ontario, and echoes of the guns at Ticonderoga.

From The History of the United States from 1492 to 1910, Volume 1 From Discovery of America October 12, 1492 to Battle of Lexington April 19, 1775 by Julian Hawthorne

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Related Words

• punishment
• reprisal
• retribution
• revenge

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