from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun The act or an instance of retaliating for a loss or injury.
noun The act or practice of forcibly seizing an enemy's goods or citizens in retaliation for a loss or injury inflicted.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun In international law:
noun The act of retorting on an enemy by inflicting suffering or death on a prisoner taken from him, in retaliation of an act of inhumanity.
noun Any taking by way of retaliation; an act of severity done in retaliation.
noun Same as recaption.
noun A prize.
noun A restitution.
noun =Syn. 1–3.Retribution, Retaliation, etc. See revenge.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun The act of taking from an enemy by way of reteliation or indemnity.
noun Anything taken from an enemy in retaliation.
noun The act of retorting on an enemy by inflicting suffering or death on a prisoner taken from him, in retaliation for an act of inhumanity.
noun Any act of retaliation.
noun See under Marque.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun act of retaliation
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun a retaliatory action against an enemy in wartime
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English reprisail, from Old French reprisaille, from Old Italian ripresaglia, from ripreso, past participle of riprendere, to take back, from Latin reprehendere, reprēndere, to take hold of; see reprehend.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From French "représailles", formerly "reprisailles", originally from Italian "rappresaglia".
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Examples
But now, without any provocation, and without the justification of reprisal or retaliation, a refusal to outlaw the use of the bomb save in reprisal is making a political purpose of its possession; this is hardly pardonable.
But now, without any provocation, and without the justification of reprisal or retaliation, a refusal to outlaw the use of the bomb save in reprisal is making a political purpose of its possession; this is hardly pardonable.
But now, without any provocation, and without the justification of reprisal or retaliation, a refusal to outlaw the use of the bomb save in reprisal is making a political purpose of its possession; this is hardly pardonable.
Among them was the Popular Resistance Committees, the group Israel almost immediately blamed for the attack, and promptly launched what it called a reprisal strike.
Among them was the Popular Resistance Committees, the group Israel almost immediately blamed for the attack, and promptly launched what it called a reprisal strike.
Amnesty International blamed "the negligence of state and federal authorities" for what it called reprisal attacks against activists and relatives of crime victims.
Amnesty International blamed "the negligence of state and federal authorities" for what it called reprisal attacks against activists and relatives of crime victims.
Church officials say they have 200 copies of the Koran and Jones says Jesus would approve of his plan for "Burn a Koran Day," which he calls a reprisal for Islamist terrorism.
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