reprisal

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“
Like the rest of Akhalgori's ethnic Georgians, he fears reprisal from the Russians and South Ossetians stationed here.

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Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Retaliation for an injury with the intent of inflicting at least as much injury in return.
  2. noun Forcible seizure of an enemy's goods or subjects in retaliation for injuries inflicted.
  3. noun The practice of using political or military force without actually resorting to war.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The goblins were held in check only by fear of nocturnal reprisal, and now that was gone. —  Up In A Heaval
  • Regarding it as a reprisal, let us mention only two or three facts. —  Simon Bolivar, the Liberator
  • Journalists had speculated that President Johnson would probably order U.S. planes from the Seventh Fleet to bomb North Vietnam in reprisal, as they had done following the Tonkin Gulf PT-boat attacks on U.S. ships three months earlier, yet no bombing had been ordered. —  Brown Waters, Black Berets
  • The centralist delegates recently turned out of office hid themselves in their homes for fear of some form of reprisal, and republicans felt unsafe in the city of the opposition. —  Three Roads to Alamo
  • Fear of reprisal, and misguided love for their absent firstborns, had always effected a change of mind. —  Disordered Minds
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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reprisal:   reprisals
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English reprisail, from Old French reprisaille, from Old Italian ripresaglia, from ripreso, past participle of riprendere, to take back, from Latin reprehendere, reprēndere, to take hold of; see reprehend.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also reprisall, reprisel; from Old French represaille, French représaille (=Spanish represalia, represaria =Portuguese represalia =Italian ripresaglia; Middle Latin reflex reprisaliæ, repræsaliæ, plural), a taking, seizing, prize, booty, from reprise, a taking, prize: see reprise, n.
 

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/rəˈpraɪzəl/
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