retaliating
present participle ofretaliate
retaliate
verb[I]
uk/rɪˈtæl.i.eɪt/us/rɪˈtæl.i.eɪt/tohurtsomeone or do somethingharmfulto someone because they have done or said somethingharmfulto you:
If someoneinsultsyou, don't retaliate as it only makes thesituationworse.
Thedemonstratorsthrewrocksat thepolice, who retaliatedbyfiringblanksinto thecrowd.
Theterroristsretaliatedagainstthegovernmentwithabombattack.
Synonyms
fight back
hit back
Compare
avengeformal
revengeverb
Revenge and vengefulness
- avenge
- avenger
- bite
- bite back (atsomeone/something)
- don't get mad, get evenidiom
- eye
- fix
- medicine
- mind
- pay
- paysomeone/somethingback
- reprisal
- retaliate
- retaliation
- retaliatory
- tit for tat
- two can play at that gameidiom
- vengeance
- vengeful
- vengefully
Examplesofretaliating
retaliating
In English, many past and present participles of verbs can be used as adjectives. Some of these examples may show the adjective use.
One child may believe he or she would be justified inretaliating, whereas the other rules this out on ethical grounds.
From theCambridge English Corpus
He does not believe, however, that we can infer the morality ofretaliatingfrom the morality of threatening to thus retaliate.
From theCambridge English Corpus
These will be the people who will prevent you fromretaliating.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It continues to be an incentive to retaliate, and it gives rise to people getting together and eventuallyretaliatingby violence.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
In other words, it opens the way to another countryretaliating—andretaliatingin quite different circumstances—with only a slight modification of the words used.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
We are a trading nation, and if we startretaliatingwe may do ourselves more damage than we do to our competitors.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It was put to me this morning on one programme that some price might be paid for notretaliating.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Some of us want this country to startretaliatingitself.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
They areretaliatingagainst us, and the mining industry is suffering.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It is no goodretaliatingif that does more damage to us than good.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
It says that we should consult before legislating, negotiate before litigating, compensate beforeretaliatingand comply at any rate.
FromEuroparl Parallel Corpus - English
It is not just a question of having the ultimate means of defending ourselves and ofretaliatingagainst a first strike.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
The fighting men have to meet danger; it is their duty; but at any rate they sometimes have the chance ofretaliatingon a brutal enemy who may attack them.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
This week's peace agreement was possible only because of the increased resolve that the international community recently demonstrated inretaliatingagainst aggression and attacks on the safe areas.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under theOpen Parliament Licence v3.0
Afterretaliatingand striking the man unconscious, she joins a group of smugglers and pirates.
From
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
- go down on someone
- go down swinging/fighting
- go-down-swinging-fighting
- go down the gurgler
- go-down-the-gurgler
- go down the pan
- go-down-the-pan
- go down the tubes
- go-down-the-tubes
- go down the wrong way
- go-down-the-wrong-way
- go-down-with
- go down with something
- go down with sth
- go-down-with-sth
- godparent
- godsend
- God's gift
- god-s-gift
- God slot
- god-slot
- godson
- godspeed
- god-squad
- God's truth