1
as in reparation
usually reprisals plural
payment to another for a loss or injury
a peace agreement that was rejected because it contained no provisions for reprisals
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
2
as in retaliation
the act or an instance of responding to an injury with an injury
after defeating them last year in the finals, our team nervously awaited the expected reprisal by our archrivals in this year's tournament
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of reprisal
Mahamat said the cycle of reprisals had spread over a fairly large area, prompting an intervention by the army.
—
ABC News, 27 Apr. 2026
The residence of Mali’s defense minister, Sadio Camara, was heavily damaged by an explosion during the attack, a nearby shopkeeper told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
—Mark Banchereau, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2026
Maykol, a 25-year-old Havana resident who asked me to use just his first name to avoid regime reprisals, told me that lengthy power outages, already frequent before January, now occur daily.
—Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 23 Apr. 2026
Those two films are commonly described as meditations on the futility of violence in a world where justice takes the form of endless attacks and reprisals.
—Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for reprisal
ABC News, 27 Apr. 2026
The residence of Mali’s defense minister, Sadio Camara, was heavily damaged by an explosion during the attack, a nearby shopkeeper told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
—Mark Banchereau, Los Angeles Times, 25 Apr. 2026
Maykol, a 25-year-old Havana resident who asked me to use just his first name to avoid regime reprisals, told me that lengthy power outages, already frequent before January, now occur daily.
—Gisela Salim-Peyer, The Atlantic, 23 Apr. 2026
Those two films are commonly described as meditations on the futility of violence in a world where justice takes the form of endless attacks and reprisals.
—Kelefa Sanneh, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for reprisal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reprisal
Noun
-
Instead, reparations for the more than 65,000 victims will be paid by the Trust Fund for Victims, set up by the court’s member states to distribute the funds.—
Molly Quell,
Los Angeles Times,
28 Apr. 2026
-
While there is a respectable moral case to be made for some form of reparations, Tubbs appears to be excessively fixated on policy ideas that would bankrupt our state if actually implemented.—
Rafael Perez,
Oc Register,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The judge allowed three of her 13 claims — including breach of contract, retaliation, and aiding and abetting in retaliation, to proceed to trial.—
KiMi Robinson,
USA Today,
4 May 2026
-
With the retaliation allegation still standing, and Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit dismissed months ago, Lively had sworn to carry on.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
An army of lawyers showed up at a hearing Tuesday to iron out issues ahead of an upcoming trial to determine whether the owner and operator of the ship that struck the Key Bridge should be held liable for the full damages caused by the tragedy.—
Mike Hellgren,
CBS News,
5 May 2026
-
Musk is asking the court to unwind OpenAI’s conversion, remove Altman and Brock, and award him up to a hundred and fifty billion dollars (no typo) in damages.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
Noun
-
The Wu-Tang Clan founder directed, wrote and produced the revenge thriller that follows an ex-military convict (Shameik Moore) seeking redemption in a small town.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
3 May 2026
-
That’s Joel Schumacher’s 1993 revenge thriller about a fed-up white Angeleno who embarks on a violent odyssey across an alienating urban hellscape to reunite with his daughter.—
Gary Baum,
HollywoodReporter,
2 May 2026
Noun
-
The story will alight on themes central to Park’s oeuvre of vengeance, retribution, the consequences of violence and the power of memory and family, but this time in the American West.—
Justin Kroll,
Deadline,
24 Apr. 2026
-
Politico went through 45 years of FEMA records and found that no other president, going back as far as Reagan, has denied a majority of requests from any states, let alone singled out states for political retribution using FEMA dollars.—
The Denver Post Editorial Board,
Denver Post,
23 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Reprisal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reprisal. Accessed 10 May. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
