English [ edit ]
Etymology [ edit ]
From Latin retāliātus , past participle of retāliō ( “ to requite, retaliate ” ) .
Pronunciation [ edit ]
IPA (key ) : /ɹɪˈtæl.i.eɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file )
retaliate (third-person singular simple present retaliates , present participle retaliating , simple past and past participle retaliated )
( intransitive ) To do something harmful or negative to get revenge for some harm; to fight back or respond in kind to an injury or affront .
John insulted Peter to retaliate for Peter's acid remark earlier.
Many companies have policies in place to prevent bosses from retaliating against allegations of harassment.
( transitive ) To repay or requite by an act of the same kind.
1634 , T[homas] H[erbert ], A Relation of Some Yeares Travaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, [ … ] , London: [ … ] William Stansby , and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC :One ambassador sent word to the duke's son that his visit should be retaliated .
1713-174 , Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope , Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus Preface
It is unlucky to be obliged to retaliate the injuries of authors, whose works are so soon forgotten that we are in danger of appearing the first aggressors.
Synonyms [ edit ]
Derived terms [ edit ]
Translations [ edit ]
do something harmful to get revenge
Albanian: please add this translation if you can
Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: հատուցել (hy) ( hatucʿel ) , վրեժ լուծել ( vrež lucel )
Bulgarian: отплащам се ( otplaštam se ) , отмъщавам (bg) ( otmǎštavam )
Catalan: revenjar-se (ca) , tornar mal per mal
Chinese:
Mandarin: 報復 / 报复 (zh) ( bàofu )
Czech: oplatit pf , oplácet impf , odplatit pf , odplácet impf , pomstít (cs) pf , mstít se impf
Dutch: vergelden (nl)
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: kätte maksma (et)
Finnish: kostaa (fi) , vastata samalla mitalla
French: riposter (fr)
Georgian: სამაგიეროს გადახდა ( samagieros gadaxda )
German: Vergeltung üben , sich rächen
Hebrew: עשה פעולת תגמול ( asá peulát tagmúl ) , נקם (he) ( nakám )
Hungarian: megbosszul (hu) , elégtételt vesz (hu) , bosszút áll (hu) , megtorol (hu)
Icelandic: svara í sömu mynt , hefna sín , gjalda líku líkt
Ido: revanchar (io)
Italian: reagire (it) , rivalersi (it) , vendicarsi
Japanese: 仕返し (ja) ( しかえする, shikaeshi suru )
Khmer: សងសឹក (km) ( sɑɑng sək )
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Latin: retalio
Latvian: please add this translation if you can
Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
Malayalam: തിരിച്ചടിക്കുക (ml) ( tiriccaṭikkuka )
Maori: rautupu , rautipu
Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
Polish: mścić się m
Portuguese: retaliar (pt)
Romanian: please add this translation if you can
Russian: мстить (ru) impf ( mstitʹ ) , отомсти́ть (ru) pf ( otomstítʹ )
Slovak: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: represaliar (es) , tomar represalias
Swedish: vedergälla (sv)
Thai: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: please add this translation if you can
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
Walloon: si vindjî (wa) , si rvindjî
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
“retaliate ”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary , Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam , 1913, →OCLC .
“retaliate ”, in The Century Dictionary [ … ] , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co. , 1911, →OCLC .
Anagrams [ edit ]