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
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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
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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
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Surveys are important, too, so workers feel safe to speak up without any retributions.—
Vicki Salemi,
Boston Herald,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
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The three, as well as other residents NBC News spoke with, asked that their names not be used for fear of reprisals.—
NBC News,
NBC news,
11 Jan. 2026
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Several Bay Area Venezuelans with temporary status contacted by this news organization declined to identify themselves, citing fear of reprisals from remnants of Venezuela’s government, which has a history of targeting political opponents.—
Julia Prodis Sulek,
Mercury News,
6 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Retaliations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/retaliations. Accessed 17 Jan. 2026.
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