Other Words from retaliate

retaliation \ ri-ˌta-lē-ˈā-shən

, ˌrē- \ noun

retaliative \ ri-ˈta-lē-ˌā-tiv

\ adjective

retaliatory \ ri-ˈtal-yə-ˌtȯr-ē

, -ˈta-lē-ə- \ adjective

Choose the Right Synonym for retaliate

reciprocate, retaliate, requite, return mean to give back usually in kind or in quantity. reciprocate implies a mutual or equivalent exchange or a paying back of what one has received. reciprocated their hospitality by inviting them for a visit retaliate usually implies a paying back of injury in exact kind, often vengefully. the enemy retaliated by executing their prisoners requite implies a paying back according to one's preference and often not equivalently. requited her love with cold indifference return implies a paying or giving back. returned their call return good for evil

Examples of retaliate in a Sentence

After the company announced plans to reduce benefits, the union threatened to retaliate by calling for a strike. retaliated his neighbor's malicious destruction of his flower garden by cutting down the man's prize apple tree

Recent Examples on the Web But this week, Workers United filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, alleging that Starbucks closed the store to retaliate against the union and send a message to other stores seeking to unionize. — Dee-ann Durbin, BostonGlobe.com, 8 June 2022 Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to retaliate against the companies leaving Russia, including threatening to nationalize their assets. — Robert Hart, Forbes, 16 May 2022 Our system depends on DeSantis getting slapped down for this attempt to retaliate for political speech. — Michael Taylor, San Antonio Express-News, 11 May 2022 Russia’s leadership would then warn that any attempt to retaliate would unleash the rest of the country’s nuclear weapons, killing millions more and destroying the U.S. as a military, political, and economic entity. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 29 Mar. 2022 Article 5 lays plain that an attack on a member merits a response, but will the alliance retaliate if Russia resorts to chemical weapons in Ukraine? — Byshannon K. Crawford, ABC News, 22 Mar. 2022 Russia, which has denied killing civilians in Ukraine and claimed the images out of Bucha are fake, criticized the expulsions and vowed to retaliate. — Washington Post, 5 Apr. 2022 Now, cornered but far from crippled by sanctions that initially did not include energy exports and still do not in Europe, Putin is using his colossal energy power to retaliate. — Suriya Jayanti, Time, 29 Apr. 2022 Leonid Slutsky, a Russian lawmaker who chairs the international affairs committee in the lower house of the country’s parliament, denied the NATO allegations in an interview with state media and said Russia’s foreign ministry would retaliate. — Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'retaliate.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.