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retaliate

re·tal·i·ate
R r

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [ri-tal-ee-eyt]
    • /rɪˈtæl iˌeɪt/
    • /rɪˈtæl.i.eɪt/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [ri-tal-ee-eyt]
    • /rɪˈtæl iˌeɪt/

Definitions of retaliate word

  • verb without object retaliate to return like for like, especially evil for evil: to retaliate for an injury. 1
  • verb with object retaliate to requite or make return for (a wrong or injury) with the like. 1
  • verb retaliate If you retaliate when someone harms or annoys you, you do something which harms or annoys them in return. 0
  • verb retaliate to take retributory action, esp by returning some injury or wrong in kind 0
  • verb retaliate to cast (an accusation) back upon a person 0
  • verb retaliate to avenge (an injury, wrong, etc) 0

Information block about the term

Origin of retaliate

First appearance:

before 1605
One of the 40% oldest English words
1605-15; < Late Latin retāliātus (past participle of retāliāre), equivalent to re- re- + tāli(s) such, of such a nature + -ātus -ate1

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Retaliate

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

retaliate popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 82% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

retaliate usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Synonyms for retaliate

verb retaliate

  • answer back — If someone, especially a child, answers back, they speak rudely to you when you speak to them.
  • answer — When you answer someone who has asked you something, you say something back to them.
  • ante up — If you ante up an amount of money, you pay your share, sometimes unwillingly.
  • beat off — to drive back; repel
  • carry back — to apply (a legally permitted credit, esp an operating loss) to the taxable income of previous years in order to ease the overall tax burden

noun retaliate

  • avenger — to take vengeance or exact satisfaction for: to avenge a grave insult.
  • nemesis — something that a person cannot conquer, achieve, etc.: The performance test proved to be my nemesis.

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See also

Matching words

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