reciprocate

[ ri-sip-ruh-keyt ]

/ rɪˈsɪp rəˌkeɪt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR reciprocate ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), re·cip·ro·cat·ed, re·cip·ro·cat·ing.

to give, feel, etc., in return.

to give and receive reciprocally; interchange: to reciprocate favors.

to cause to move alternately backward and forward.

verb (used without object), re·cip·ro·cat·ed, re·cip·ro·cat·ing.

to make a return, as for something given.

to make interchange.

to be correspondent.

to move alternately backward and forward.

RELATED WORDS

unrequited, unreturned

Nearby words

Origin of reciprocate

1605–15; < Latin reciprocātus past participle of reciprocāre to move back and forth. See reciprocal, -ate¹

SYNONYMS FOR reciprocate

1 return, respond, retaliate.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR reciprocate ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

re·cip·ro·ca·tive, re·cip·ro·ca·to·ry

[ri-sip-ruh-kuh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] /rɪˈsɪp rə kəˌtɔr i, -ˌtoʊr i/, adjectivere·cip·ro·ca·tor, nounnon·re·cip·ro·cat·ing, adjectiveun·re·cip·ro·cat·ed, adjective

un·re·cip·ro·cat·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for unreciprocated

As important, it ignores the very real and unreciprocated distance that the Palestinians have traveled in accepting Israel.
Of Herrings and Elephants: Benny Morris and "Palestinian Rejectionism"|Daniel Levy|April 16, 2012|DAILY BEAST
No doubt some of them have even gloomed through brief periods of unreciprocated passion.
Black Oxen|Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton
Suez has ruined our shipping interests; an unreciprocated free trade is ruining our commerce.
Mount Royal, Volume 3 of 3|Mary Elizabeth Braddon
But still the attraction had its influence, though unacknowledged in words, and unreciprocated in kind.
Harriet Martineau|Florence Fenwick Miller

Her tears flowed silently, but she was far from unhappy; love, even unknown and unreciprocated, brings its own sweet reward.
The Award of Justice|A. Maynard Barbour
I tried to ignore the injury to Margaret of her unreciprocated advances.
The New Machiavelli|Herbert George Wells

British Dictionary definitions for unreciprocated

reciprocate

/ (rɪˈsɪprəˌkeɪt) /

verb

to give or feel in return

to move or cause to move backwards and forwards

(intr) to be correspondent or equivalent

Derived Formsreciprocation, nounreciprocative or reciprocatory, adjectivereciprocator, noun

Word Origin for reciprocate

C17: from Latin reciprocāre, from reciprocus reciprocal

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 unreciprocated

reciprocate

"to return, requite," 1610s, back-formation from reciprocation, or else from Latin reciprocatus, past participle of reciprocare "rise and fall, move back and forth; reverse the motion of," from reciprocus (see reciprocal). Related: Reciprocated; reciprocating.