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
Over the past year, countries rushed to secure piecemeal deals; some allowed panic to overtake them; very few coordinated their actions or retaliations.
—
Mihir Sharma, Twin Cities, 26 Mar. 2026
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
On Sunday, Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel in one of the group's heaviest retaliations in months.
—Jordana Miller, ABC News, 26 Nov. 2024
Mihir Sharma, Twin Cities, 26 Mar. 2026
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
On Sunday, Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel in one of the group's heaviest retaliations in months.
—Jordana Miller, ABC News, 26 Nov. 2024
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
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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
-
On two separate occasions earlier in March, Rick Nicholson brushed the chest of two female players while attempting to swat away insects, according to the parents of three players who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns that their daughters might face reprisals.—
Edward Lee,
Baltimore Sun,
9 Apr. 2026
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Her return to Venezuela would be combustible—Rodríguez has already threatened reprisals—but potentially transformative.—
Boris Muñoz,
Time,
3 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Retaliations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/retaliations. Accessed 18 Apr. 2026.
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