Meanings
nounretribution (countable and uncountable, plural retributions)
plural retributions
- countableuncountablePunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance.
Whereas retribution focuses on the offender's wrong, retaliation focuses on the impulse of the victim (or of those who sympathize with him) to strike back at the offender.
1983, Richard A. Posner, The economics of justice, m p.2081 more example
1. Revenge is for an injury; retribution is for a wrong. 2. Retribution sets an internal limit to the amount of the punishment according to the seriousness of the wrong; revenge need not. 3. Revenge is personal; the agent of retribution need have no special or personal tie to the victim of the wrong for which he exacts retribution. 4. Revenge involves a particular emotional tone, pleasure in the suffering of another, while retribution need involve no emotional tone.
1999, Barbara Hanawalt, Medieval crime and social control, page 73
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done) especially in the next life
Broader
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinretribuere“repay”
- Englishretribution
PIE word *tréyes From Latin retribuere (“repay”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek τιμωρία, τίσις
- τιμωρία (timōría)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- τίσις (tísis)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Arabic عِقَاب, اِنْتِقَام
- عِقَاب (ʕiqāb)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- اِنْتِقَام (intiqām)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Bulgarian отпла́та, възме́здие
- отпла́та (otpláta)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- възме́здие (văzmézdie)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- мъст (măst)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Chinese Mandarin 報應 /报应, 惡報 /恶报
- 報應 /报应 (bàoyìng)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- 惡報 /恶报 (èbào)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Czech odplata, pomsta
- odplatapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- pomstapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- trestpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- odvetapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Danish gengældelse, straf
- gengældelsepunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- strafpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Dutch vergelding
- vergeldingpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Estonian tasu, kättemaks
- tasupunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- kättemakspunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Finnish rangaistus, kosto
- rangaistuspunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- kostopunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
French vendetta, châtiment
- vendettapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- châtimentpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- punitionpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
German Vergeltung, Heimzahlung
- Vergeltungpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- Heimzahlungpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Greek ανταπόδοση
- ανταπόδοση (antapódosi)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Hungarian megtorlás, büntetés
- megtorláspunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- büntetéspunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Irish agairt, díoltas
- agairtpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- díoltaspunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Italian retribuzione, vendetta
- retribuzionepunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- vendettapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Japanese 報復, 復讐
- 報復 (hōfuku)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- 復讐 (fukushū)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Korean 보복, 복수
- 보복 (bobok)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- 복수 (boksu)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Latvian atmaksa
- atmaksapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Lithuanian atpildas
- atpildaspunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Malay balasan
- balasanpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Māori ngakinga
- ngakingapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Norwegian Bokmål gjengjeldelse
- gjengjeldelsepunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Persian پادافراه, انتقام
- پادافراه (pâdefrâh)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- انتقام (enteqâm)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Polish zemsta, odwet
- zemstapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- odwetpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- karapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- pomstapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Portuguese retribuição
- retribuiçãopunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Romanian răzbunare
- răzbunarepunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Russian возме́здие, воздая́ние
- возме́здие (vozmézdije)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- воздая́ние (vozdajánije)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- ка́ра (kára)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- месть (mestʹ)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- отпла́та (otpláta)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- распла́та (raspláta)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Slovak odplata, pomsta
- odplatapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- pomstapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- trestpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- odvetapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Spanish castigo, retribución
- castigopunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- retribuciónpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Swedish vedergällning
- vedergällningpunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Tagalog gantindusa
- gantindusapunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Turkish intikam
- intikampunishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Ukrainian відпла́та, ка́ра
- відпла́та (vidpláta)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- ка́ра (kára)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- пока́ра (pokára)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- по́мста (pómsta)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
- розпла́та (rozpláta)punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with retribution
solutiondistributionresolutionevolutioninstitutionexecutioncontributionconstitutionrevolutionpollutionprosecutionsubstitutionattributionpersecutiondissolutionprostitutiondilutionrestitutionBelarusianconvolutionAleutianLuciandiminutionabsolution
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
retribution. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/retribution
MLA
“retribution.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/retribution. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “retribution,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/retribution.
Source: retribution on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.