Reprisal
//ɹɪˈpɹaɪzəl// noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 An act of retaliation. countable, uncountable
- 2 a retaliatory action against an enemy in wartime wordnet
- 3 Something taken from an enemy in retaliation. archaic, countable, uncountable
- 4 The act of taking something from an enemy by way of retaliation or indemnity. archaic, countable, uncountable
"debatable ground, on which incursions and reprisals continued to take place"
Example
More examples"General Jackson vowed a reprisal for the death of his men."
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman reprisaille (French représaille), from Old Italian ripresaglia (Italian rappresaglia), from ripreso, past participle of riprendere (“to take back”), from Latin reprendere, earlier reprehendere (see reprehend).
Related phrases
More for "reprisal"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.