Retributive

//ɹɪˈtɹɪ.bjʊ.tɪv// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Relating to retribution; retaliatory.

    "Their goal is retributive: to exact a price from Palestinian civilians (and in some cases left-wing Israeli Jews, Christians, and Israeli security forces) for actions Israeli authorities take against the settlers, usually building enforcement in illegally built settlements."

Adjective
  1. 1
    given or inflicted in requital according to merits or deserts wordnet
  2. 2
    of or relating to or having the nature of retribution wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
retaliativecastigatorychasteningchastisingcompensatingcompensative

Example

More examples

"When the trusted confidant of the person who conducted a hostile takeover of the company betrayed him, it was a sort of retributive justice."

More for "retributive"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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