retribution
noun
Did you know?
With its prefix re-, meaning "back", retribution means literally "payback". And indeed we usually use it when talking about personal revenge, whether it's retribution for an insult in a high-school corridor or retribution for a guerrilla attack on a government building. But retribution isn't always so personal: God takes "divine retribution" on humans several times in the Old Testament, especially in the great Flood that wipes out almost the entire human race. And retribution for criminal acts, usually in the form of a prison sentence, is taken by the state, not the victims.
Examples of retribution in a Sentence
David Ansen, Newsweek, 16 June 1986
The two purposes that sustain the death penalty … in the Court's view are general deterrence and retribution.
—Thurgood Marshall, Gregg v. Georgia, 1976
" … As for Cordelia, she went insane with remorse and was shut up in a lunatic asylum. I thought that was a poetical retribution for her crime."
—Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, 1908
The killer acted without fear of retribution.
the neighborhood is being torn apart by an endless cycle of gang violence and retribution
Hannah Parry, Newsweek, 7 Mar. 2025
Johnson had acknowledged a hunger for further retribution from some GOP members ahead of the vote to censure Green.
—Mychael Schnell, The Hill, 6 Mar. 2025
But Shara also cautioned that an extensive focus on retribution could trigger cycles of revenge and undermine stability.
—Patrick Vinck, Foreign Affairs, 4 Mar. 2025
Anyone who testified also faced a threat of retribution.
—Michael Luo, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for retribution
Articles Related to retribution
Cite this Entry
“Retribution.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/retribution. Accessed 20 Mar. 2025.
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