Retaliate

//ɹɪˈtæl.i.eɪt// verb

verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To do something harmful or negative to get revenge for some harm; to fight back or respond in kind to an injury or affront. intransitive

    "John insulted Peter to retaliate for Peter's acid remark earlier."

  2. 2
    make a counterattack and return like for like, especially evil for evil wordnet
  3. 3
    To repay or requite by an act of the same kind. transitive

    "One ambassador sent word to the duke's son that his visit should be retaliated."

  4. 4
    take revenge for a perceived wrong wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
revengestrike backalternateatoneavengeavenge

Example

More examples

"How can you be so passive? Why don't you retaliate?"

Etymology

From Latin retāliātus, past participle of retāliō (“to requite, retaliate”).

Related phrases

fight backin kind

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.