Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Something justly deserved; recompense.
- n. Something given or demanded in repayment, especially punishment.
- n. Theology Punishment or reward distributed in a future life based on performance in this one.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The act of retributing or paying back for past good or evil; hence, that which is given in return; requital according to merits or deserts, in present use generally restricted to the requital of evil, or punishment; retaliation.
- n. In theology, the distribution of rewards and punishments in a future life.
- n. simply a continuance of the present (continuance theory);
- n. a life of gradual development by means of discipline (purgatory), or future redemptive influences (future probation).
- n. Synonyms Vengeance, Retaliation, etc. (see revenge), repayment, payment.
Wiktionary
- n. Punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The act of retributing; repayment.
- n. That which is given in repayment or compensation; return suitable to the merits or deserts of, as an action; commonly, condign punishment for evil or wrong.
- n. Specifically, reward and punishment, as distributed at the general judgment.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done) especially in the next life
- n. a justly deserved penalty
- n. the act of correcting for your wrongdoing
Etymologies
- Latin, from retribuere ("assign again"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English retribucion, from Old French retribution, from Latin retribūtiō, retribūtiōn-, from retribūtus, past participle of retribuere, to pay back : re-, re- + tribuere, to grant; see tribe. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Boehner says NUH-UH: Jim Jordan and I may not always agree on strategy, but we are friends and allies, and the word retribution is not in my vocabulary.”
“It also claimed responsibility for the bombings in Uganda during the World Cup last year, part of what it called retribution for the presence of African Union peacekeepers in Somalia.”
“But I feel this type of retribution is a far more appropriate punishment for your threatened crime.”
“Though the exact contents of the Facebook post and the previously mentioned letter are not clear, it is obvious that the Palins did not, at the time of the email, intend to put any more political muscle behind Miller's candidacy, and were specifically withholding support they had intended to give in retribution for Miller's failure to support Palin's presidential aspirations.”
“She's stayed with him, and the big worry is possible retribution from the drug people.”
“Except for those five, who if recent history is a guide will be excoriated by the right wing smearcasters, subjected to promises of retribution from the GOP leadership, and attacked by the goose-stepping jackals of the right wing-nut political militia.”
“Consequently, China's rare earth retribution is stirring an extremely uneasy reaction.”
“If one of them were to nuke anyone else, the risk of profound socioeconomic retribution from the rest of the world would be enough for "thinking" leaders to re-think.”
“Is it at the point that companies are afraid to say an opinion lest they fear retribution from the lawmakers, and if they are then that says more about the state of government than anything else in that they are running the country in an atmosphere of disagreement reaps you punishment?.”
“What we call retribution is the universal necessity by which the whole appears wherever a part appears.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘retribution’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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From reading
Collected from reading
venerate, reprobate, reticent, adoration, ethereal, ephemeral, equivocal, contumacious, heinous, solicitous, agnostic, aberration and 335 more...
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JimboBaggins's list
paraphenalia
haberdashery, desideratum, esoteric, retribution, retrograde, tetrahedron, iridescent, tentative, siphon, soothsayer, wanderlust, patina and 16 more...
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nachchba's Words
stentorian, blasé, ennui, concinnity, melee, photokeratitis, skiffle, refulgence, mongrel, fakir, caid, eudaimonia and 215 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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words unknown
repeat!!!
laissez faire, propensity, punitive, explicit, whim, extenuating, distort, gross, grossly, hearsay, dispel, apprehensive and 113 more...
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quality words
This is a mix of new words I've read studying for the GRE verbal and words I use normally. I also check back on these words if I don't use them often enough.
ineffable, septuagenarian, sesquipedalian, argyle, coalescence, profundity, vivisepulture, defenestrate, concatenate, usurp, diatribe, veracious and 461 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Aequoria's list
affect, deleterious, nuance, pliant, verbatim, pertinent, latter, municipality, provincial, voyeuristic, circumlocution, wane and 798 more...
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Favorites
machiavellian, mercurial, deus ex machina, synecdoche, litotes, phallic, freudian, metonymy, chrestomathy, falsifiable, gestalt, truthiness and 211 more...
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monica's list
just words i think are pretty.
luminous, iridescent, crestfallen, wanderlust, autumn, autumnal, spark, candescence, exaltations, merry, empathy, tainted and 96 more...
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Wordie Working Overtime - some words ...
Some words of from XTC songs that I like or for some reason stand out. That and a dollar will get you a ride on the bus.
transistor, impaled, settee, sunspecs, neon, meccanic, infatuation, greenhouse, capers, consequence, excepted, helicopter and 112 more...
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Scriptie: The Two Towers
dampen, treacherous, black gate, man-flesh, precious, elvish, dwarf, pursuit, quarry, hobbit, sprinters, horse lords and 236 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for retribution.
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