as in revenges
the act or an instance of responding to an injury with an injury
police believe that the murder was in retaliation for an earlier gangland execution
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 retaliations
Neither country can afford to return to the prior tariff rates during the heat of tit-for-tat retaliations, which freaked out Big Tech earlier this year.
—
Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 15 Sep. 2025
Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 15 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for retaliations
Noun
-
What starts as a petty territorial conflict mutates into a spiralling cycle of retributions, escalating from passive-aggressive jabs to acts of destruction and ruin.—
Udita Jhunjhunwala,
Variety,
21 Nov. 2025
-
Surveys are important, too, so workers feel safe to speak up without any retributions.—
Vicki Salemi,
Boston Herald,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Some witnesses have asked to testify anonymously for fear of reprisals.—
Mogomotsi Magome,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Mar. 2026
-
Beijing, which regards the self-governing island as part of its territory, has since stepped up diplomatic and trade reprisals against Japan.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
24 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Retaliations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/retaliations. Accessed 28 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
