retributive
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- retributively adverb
- unretributive adjective
- unretributory adjective
Etymology
Origin of retributive
1670–80; obsolete retribute to make retribution (< Latin retribūtus; retribution ) + -ive
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.
“The best hope was their sticking together and fighting the illegal, retributive orders.”
From Los Angeles Times
“Some term of imprisonment may serve sentencing’s retributive goals. But only a longer-term period of probation is adequate to ensure that Little will not become an active participant in another riot,” he wrote.
From Seattle Times
Wednesday’s brief, according to the Post report, made other charges about the trial, saying the judge’s “closing remarks demonstrated that Mr. Smollett’s sentencing took on a personal retributive tone.”
From Washington Times
The government pointed to the large backlog of criminal investigations and said it wanted to move away from a “lengthy pursuit of retributive justice.”
From Washington Post
It develops here as an agonizing moral question, one that our retributive correctional culture would rather not have to debate.
From Washington Post
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.
