retaliate
[ ri-tal-ee-eyt ]
/ rɪˈtæl iˌeɪt /
Save This Word!
verb (used without object), re·tal·i·at·ed, re·tal·i·at·ing.
to return like for like, especially evil for evil: to retaliate for an injury.
verb (used with object), re·tal·i·at·ed, re·tal·i·at·ing.
to requite or make return for (a wrong or injury) with the like.
QUIZ
QUIZ YOURSELF ON AFFECT VS. EFFECT!
In effect, this quiz will prove whether or not you have the skills to know the difference between “affect” and “effect.”
Question 1 of 7
The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.
Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing
Origin of retaliate
OTHER WORDS FROM retaliate
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use retaliate in a sentence
They deplored incendiarism, machine destruction, and all the purely retaliative acts of the laborers.
Violence and the Labor Movement|Robert HunterThe idea of retaliative measures was a product of the brain of Jeff Davis.
Company G|A. R. (Albert Rowe) BarlowThe most ancient punishment in English law was retaliative—membrum pro membro, but ultimately at common law fine and imprisonment.
British Dictionary definitions for retaliate
retaliate
/ (rɪˈtælɪˌeɪt) /
verb
(intr) to take retributory action, esp by returning some injury or wrong in kind
(intr) to cast (accustations) back upon a person
(tr) rare to avenge (an injury, wrong, etc)
Derived forms of retaliate
retaliation, nounretaliative or retaliatory, adjectiveretaliator, nounWord Origin for retaliate
C17: from Late Latin retāliāre, from Latin re- + tālis of such kind
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