Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use retaliation in a sentence

24 example sentences · noun

Retaliation means violent or otherwise punitive response to an act of harm or perceived injustice; a hitting back; revenge. Example: “As for further retaliation: adding such fuel to the fire, as it were, will only worsen the already unpleasant state of affairs.”

Examples of retaliation by meaning

nounViolent or otherwise punitive response to an act of harm or perceived injustice; a hitting back; revenge.

  • Hamas knew there would be massive retaliations.2009 January 13, “'Never again,' says survivor”, in Toronto Star

More sentences with retaliation

  • As for further retaliation: adding such fuel to the fire, as it were, will only worsen the already unpleasant state of affairs.From the entry worsen
  • The threat of retaliation “exponentially increases when Trump calls you a spy.”2019 October 4, Joe Davidson, “Perspective | Federal whistleblowers would do it again, even after retaliation and ‘professional suicide’”…. From the entry professional suicide
  • Letters of counter-mart were issued in retaliation for letters of mart.2016, Guido Rossi, Insurance in Elizabethan England: The London Code, page 260. From the entry letter of counter-mart
  • Certain people resented River Oak's elimination of color distinction and grape vine gossip included retaliation toward its master's partners.2014, Connie High, A Single Yellow Rose, page 37. From the entry grape vine
  • Even if it's in retaliation for a roommate disrespecting your room, be the bigger Man and leave his room alone.2012, Joseph Greene, The ComMANdments; The Official Guide Book to Man Rules, King-Size Edition, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 84. From the entry be the bigger man
  • I've read complaints from the leftosphere complaining that there's no soundbite to play in retaliation to the noisebots on Fox.2008 March 19, Sam Hutcheson, “Re: How to ensure Obama coasts to the Democratic nomination”, in…. From the entry leftosphere
  • Prevenge: the act of getting one's retaliation in first.2007, Susie Dent, The Language Report, Oxford University Press, page 140. From the entry prevenge
  • So ingrained is the instinct for massive retaliation that Downing St. came out swinging before mastering the facts.2002 February 25, J. F. O. McAllistair, “Blair the Bungee Jumper”, in Time. From the entry come out swinging
  • This peculiar ire against Petr Pithart was in retaliation to his highly conciliatory television speech on 9 November.2001, Abby Innes, Czechoslovakia: The Short Goodbye, New Haven, C.N.; London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 298. From the entry Czechoslovakist
  • There is definitely an indication of retaliation in this case.1989 December 17, Edward Inman, “Disobeying An Order To Piss Lands Transsexual In Isolation”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 23…. From the entry misconduct
  • As if in bold retaliation for the failures of their forebears, our teensters have taken over in a great big way.1969, Calvert Stein, Practical Family and Marriage Counseling, page 178. From the entry teenster
  • Department of Justice is investigating him and his wife, first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, in retaliation for his opposition to President Donald Trump.2026 June 15, Guy Marzorati, “Newsom: Trump DOJ Investigating Governor and First Partner”, in KQED. From the entry first partner
  • In its retaliation against U.S. tariffs, China slowed exports of several rare-earth minerals and magnets this month, setting off a panic among U.S. automakers.2025 April 27, Sean McLain, “Dyspro-what? Why an Obscure Element Has the EV Industry in a Panic. The rare-earth mineral dysprosium, used…. From the entry dysprosium
  • Now free to focus exclusively on the rioters, the cops began an offensive of arrest attempts and retaliations with teargas and pepper gas.1982 December 18, David France, “Protests Drive Klan Rally Out Of Washington”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 22, page 1. From the entry pepper gas
  • Maybe it got stuck in a printer.’ That was my first thought,” Parker, who requested to go by a pseudonym due to fear of retaliation, tells Them.2025 March 3, Nico Lang, ““Simply Trying to Exist”: How Trans Americans Are Navigating the Confusion and Chaos of Trump’s Passport…. From the entry pseudonym
  • In retaliation to those ever-present videos of influencers parading fast fashion hauls or convincing you to bulk-buy the next micro-trend, trends such as ‘underconsumption core’ are becoming more popular.2025 July 29, Laura Van Diesen, “Sewing your way to sustainable fashion”, in The Boar, archived from the original on 05 Aug 2025. From the entry underconsumption core
  • Retaliation against organizing unions is illegal under US federal law, and complaints with the NLRB can lead to fired workers being reinstated with backpay, Bloomberg notes.2023 February 16, Jon Porter, “Tesla fired dozens of Gigafactory workers after Tuesday’s union announcement: NLRB complaint”, in The…. From the entry NLRB
  • There is Goneril using Oswald to destabilize the king, Edgar’s depiction of a servingman’s life, the disguised Kent’s undiplomatic irritation of Cornwall and Regan and their spiteful retaliation.2015 February 15, Keith Linley, 'King Lear' in Context: The Cultural Background, →ISBN, page 78. From the entry servingman
  • On the contrary, the use of nuclear or other terror weapons would be certain to invite overwhelming retaliation, delivering North Korea’s decision makers to a fiery oblivion.2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times. From the entry on the contrary
  • The organization's goal is to disconnect the act of whistleblowing from the act of retaliation, which is why so much legislation to protect whistleblowers is practically irrelevant.2012, Frederick D. Lipman, Whistleblowers, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, →ISBN, page 60. From the entry whistle-blower
  • Ironically, therefore, Deng shrewdly counterplayed his “American card” against the Soviet Union in order to forestall Soviet military retaliation against China for the invasion of their Vietnamese ally.1985, Francis Anthony Boyle, World Politics and International Law, →ISBN. From the entry counterplay
  • 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.208. From the entry retribution
  • The thematic point of retaliation, as we have seen, is intimated in the biblical text, but without the suggestion that Judah himself is conscious of the connections.1981, Robert Alter, “A Literary Approach to the Bible”, in The Art of Biblical Narrative, page 11. From the entry intimate

Meaning of retaliation

  1. noun Violent or otherwise punitive response to an act of harm or perceived injustice; a hitting back; revenge.

Full definition of retaliation

Questions about retaliation in a sentence

How do you use retaliation in a sentence?
Retaliation is used as a noun. For example: “As for further retaliation: adding such fuel to the fire, as it were, will only worsen the already unpleasant state of affairs.”
What is a short sentence with retaliation?
“Hamas knew there would be massive retaliations.”
What does retaliation mean?
Retaliation means violent or otherwise punitive response to an act of harm or perceived injustice; a hitting back; revenge.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: retaliation (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use retaliation in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/retaliation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.