as in reparation
payment to another for a loss or injury
a peace agreement that was rejected because it contained no provisions for reprisals
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Recent Examples of reprisals
Meanwhile, the movie’s villains — played by recognizable faces, among them Heather Graham and Tom Felton — get pretty much zero by way of personality, or even superficial nastiness, making Asia’s reprisals a whole lot less entertaining.
—
Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Mar. 2026
Barzani’s movement collapsed within weeks, and Iraqi forces launched reprisals that displaced hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civilians.
—John Calabrese, The Conversation, 7 Mar. 2026
The witness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
—Jon Gambrell, Chicago Tribune, 1 Mar. 2026
On the Facebook post, commenters hinted that the reason may be fear of reprisals from area gangs.
—Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 27 Feb. 2026
The volunteer spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
—ABC News, 27 Feb. 2026
By the next evening, Saedi was dying in his father’s arms – shot in the face on the street in Tehran during a brutal crackdown on demonstrations by Iranian security forces, according to a relative inside Iran who spoke to CNN anonymously for fear of reprisals.
—Jomana Karadsheh, CNN Money, 26 Feb. 2026
Still, the possibility that educators could face state reprisals has prompted districts to take a stricter line.
—Jeffrey S. Solochek, Sun Sentinel, 25 Feb. 2026
That has led to Beijing’s diplomatic and economic reprisals.
—Mari Yamaguchi, Fortune, 19 Feb. 2026
Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 18 Mar. 2026
Barzani’s movement collapsed within weeks, and Iraqi forces launched reprisals that displaced hundreds of thousands of Kurdish civilians.
—John Calabrese, The Conversation, 7 Mar. 2026
The witness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
—Jon Gambrell, Chicago Tribune, 1 Mar. 2026
On the Facebook post, commenters hinted that the reason may be fear of reprisals from area gangs.
—Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 27 Feb. 2026
The volunteer spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
—ABC News, 27 Feb. 2026
By the next evening, Saedi was dying in his father’s arms – shot in the face on the street in Tehran during a brutal crackdown on demonstrations by Iranian security forces, according to a relative inside Iran who spoke to CNN anonymously for fear of reprisals.
—Jomana Karadsheh, CNN Money, 26 Feb. 2026
Still, the possibility that educators could face state reprisals has prompted districts to take a stricter line.
—Jeffrey S. Solochek, Sun Sentinel, 25 Feb. 2026
That has led to Beijing’s diplomatic and economic reprisals.
—Mari Yamaguchi, Fortune, 19 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for reprisals
Noun
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That mirrors the world, where reparations for indigenous and enslaved people remain more of an intellectual argument far from an actual reality.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
18 Mar. 2026
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Questions of reparations are a fairly academic subject.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
13 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Musk is seeking as much as $134 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft — a staggering amount, that if awarded, would be one of the largest verdicts in history.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
18 Mar. 2026
-
Her experience appears to be increasingly rare, as the Russian business newspaper Kommersant estimated in a report last week that just five days of outages caused 3 billion to 5 billion rubles ($37 million to $62 million) in damages to Moscow businesses.—
Yuliya Talmazan,
NBC news,
17 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Reprisals.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/reprisals. Accessed 24 Mar. 2026.
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