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retaliate
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/rɪˈtælieɪt/ 
| present tense | |
| I/you/we/they | retaliate |
| he/she/it | retaliates |
| present participle | retaliating |
| past tense | retaliated |
| past participle | retaliated |
- to do something harmful or unpleasant to someone because they have done something harmful or unpleasant to youretaliate with:
Militant students hurled firebombs and riot police retaliated with tear gas.
retaliate by doing something:They say they will retaliate by halting British imports.
retaliate against someone for something:They have threatened to retaliate against the US for the bombing raid.
This is the British English definition of retaliate. View American English definition of retaliate.
Change your default dictionary and thesaurus to American English.
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