retaliation

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Returning like for like

Nouns

1. retaliation, reprisal, requital, counterstroke, retribution, compensation, reciprocation, reciprocity, retort, counterattack, recrimination, tit for tat, give and take, blow for blow, quid pro quo, measure for measure, the biter bit, comeuppance, just deserts. Slang, the hair of the dog [that bit one]. See punishment.

2. (retaliation for a wrong) revenge, vengeance, avengement; vendetta, feud, grudge fight; an eye for an eye, a Roland for an Oliver, quid pro quo, a dose of one's own medicine.

3. vengefulness, vindictiveness, implacability; spite, rancor (see resentment).

4. avenger, vindicator, Nemesis, Eumenides, Furies, Erinyes.

Verbs

1. retaliate, strike back, retort, requite, repay, turn upon, pay back, return in kind, pay in the same coin, cap, reciprocate, turn the tables upon, return the compliment, give as good as one gets, give and take, scratch one's back, be quits, be even with, pay off old scores; call or make it quits. Informal, give one a dose of his own medicine.

2. (retaliate for a wrong) revenge, avenge, take one's revenge, get even, get back at, settle the score, square or settle accounts, wreak vengeance; feud with.

3. (have something to retaliate for) have a bone to pick, harbor a grudge, bear malice, rankle in the breast. Informal, have it in for.

4. (be retaliated against) get what's coming to one, have it coming.

Adjectives

1. retaliative, retaliatory, recriminatory, retributive.

2. revengeful, vengeful, vindictive, rancorous, ruthless, unforgiving, implacable, relentless.

Phrases — don't cut off your nose to spite your face; he who laughs last laughs best; revenge is a dish best eaten cold; revenge is sweet.

Quotations — Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord (Bible), Indeed, revenge is always the pleasure of a paltry, feeble, tiny mind ( Juvenal), Cry "Havoc! " and let slip the dogs of war (Shakespeare), Heaven has no rage... nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorned (William Congreve), In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior (Francis Bacon), Don't get mad, get even ( Joseph Kennedy).

Antonyms, see forgiveness.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. vengeance, reprisal, punishment; see revenge 1 .

III

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun The act of retaliating: counteraction, counterattack, counterblow, reciprocation, reprisal, requital, retribution, revenge, tit for tat, vengeance. Idioms: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, like for like, measure for measure. See ATTACK, FORGIVENESS.