action taken in return for an injury or offense

The act of retaliating, or of returning like for like; retribution; now, specifically, the return of evil for evil; e. g., an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Act of retaliating: the return of like for like: retribution.

The return of like for like; requital of evil; at one time, return of good for good.

By retaliation, we are to understand the injuring of another because he has injured us. – Twenty-Four Short Sermons On The Doctrine Of Universal Salvation by John Bovee Dods

There was no way to guard against desperate and terrible retaliation by survivors of the first attacked country. – Operation Terror by William Fitzgerald Jenkins

What casualties, if any, were inflicted we never heard; we certainly had a number as the result of enemy retaliation by shell fire. – The Fifth Battalion Highland Light Infantry in the War 1914-1918 by F.L. Morrison

" Revenge and retaliation," he remarks in the preface to The Cenci " are pernicious mistakes." – Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle by H. N. Brailsford

Then, too, he might himself get a lesson in retaliation." – Sidonia The Sorceress V1 by William Mienhold

" I don't think they are likely to do anything as a body, but some reckless cowboy may do violence to some Tetong, which will rouse the tribe to retaliation. – The Captain of the Gray-Horse Troop by Hamlin Garland

But retaliation comes, for when all the ladies have been questioned the gentleman's turn arrives, and the ladies answer for their partners. – Games For All Occasions by Mary E. Blain

They refuse to take water from an Uriya Brahman, probably in retaliation for the refusal of Uriya Brahmans to accept water from an Agharia, though taking it from a Kolta. – The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II by R. V. Russell

" No Retaliation" was his great motto and the rule of his life; and the last words uttered to his son in France were these: " My boy, you will one day go back to Santo Domingo; forget that France murdered your father." – The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnagey (AKA Dale Carnegie) and J. Berg Esenwein

They also record the death of Donough O'Gillapatrick, and say that this was a retaliation due to the English; for he had killed, burned, and destroyed many of them. – An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 by Mary Frances Cusack

However, if we neglect these just and frequent warnings, and continue in a course of wickedness and injustice, do not let us be surprised if Providence thinks fit, at last, to give us a home sting, and to exercise a little retaliation upon us. – Æsop's Fables Embellished with One Hundred and Eleven Emblematical Devices. by Æsop

I cannot, sir, while you continue, by taking liberties with the girl, and swearing at the man, to provoke them to retaliation. – Roughing it in the Bush by Susanna Moodie

The aim was true, and the man fell dead, while the others started back with surprise at the unexpected retaliation. – The Phantom Ship by Captain Frederick Marryat

The Spaniards, when they had the upper hand, did not fail to deal out their own pleasure for law; and in like manner, the English, French, and Dutch, when masters, determined their own measure of retaliation. – History of the Buccaneers of America by James Burney

The expulsion of the Jesuits they naturally looked upon as a suitable retaliation on Rome for the excommunication of the Royal Family; but beyond the intense relief it gave to all, it could not be considered as affecting or materially altering the political situation. – Temporal Power by Marie Corelli

And does it not seem to be the regular and systematic plan of our Government to provoke the retaliation of the Americans, and to show our disregard of their privilege of neutrality and rights of independence; and that we insult them only because we despise them, and despise them only because we do not apprehend their resentment. – The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte by Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton

The tone of her voice told him that, instead of yielding, she was only bent on retaliation. – Baron Trigault's Vengeance Volume 2 (of 2) by Emile Gaboriau