How to Use retaliate in a Sentence

retaliate

verb
Definition of retaliatenext
Synonyms for retaliatenext
  • After the company announced plans to reduce benefits, the union threatened to retaliate by calling for a strike.
  • Putin has vowed to retaliate against any and all involved.
    — Charles Maynes, NPR, 25 Mar. 2024
  • The United States might then retaliate with a nuclear strike of its own, bringing the world to the edge of destruction.
    — Peter Schroeder, Foreign Affairs, 20 Dec. 2023
  • The naval anti-submarine drills marked the first joint exercise in six months, and North Korea promised to retaliate to the drills.
    — Peter Aitken, Fox News, 19 Apr. 2023
  • In some of the videos, staffers retaliate by launching ad hominem attacks at Gude or the other protesters.
    — Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 10 Jan. 2024
  • Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel and hold the country’s ally, the U.S., answerable.
    — Mallory Moench, TIME, 12 Apr. 2024
  • Last week, Bush Hager detailed how her 10-year-old daughter Mila felt left out of plans with her mom and aunt — and used queso dip to retaliate.
    — Jp Mangalindan, Peoplemag, 2 Jan. 2024
  • The wave of attacks also comes after Moscow promised to retaliate for Kyiv’s strike on the Crimean Bridge earlier this week.
    — Mikhail Klimentov, Washington Post, 21 July 2023
  • The next day, the victim retaliated by throwing a container of milk to the back, dousing a seventh-grader.
    — Caralee Adams, Washington Post, 15 July 2023
  • Trump has a long history of trying to use the courts to retaliate against unfavorable press.
    — Brian Steinberg, Variety, 19 Mar. 2024
  • Rolling Stone is withholding the names of the women and the specifics of their relationships, as several sources voiced fear that Majors and his team would retaliate against the women.
    — Althea Legaspi, Rolling Stone, 29 June 2023
  • Israel retaliated to the largest killing of Jews in one day since the Holocaust and now a lot of innocent lives are being lost in every direction.
    — Iliza Shlesinger, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Oct. 2023
  • The warnings that Barnett claimed riled Boeing to retaliate against him, and that so worried his mom, have proven shockingly prescient.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 28 Mar. 2024
  • By partnering with the Houthis to retaliate against these states’ vessels, Iran can deter both countries from seizing its own oil and weapons shipments.
    — Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, Foreign Affairs, 29 Jan. 2024
  • Hamas has still been able to retaliate, missiles hitting a Tel Aviv neighborhood.
    — CBS News, 29 Oct. 2023
  • Roland retaliates with a matching appraisal of her fierce facade.
    — Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 31 Oct. 2023
  • One of their major legal claims is that the town violated their First Amendment rights by retaliating against them for seeking to repeal the food truck ban.
    — Andrew Wimer, Forbes, 13 Feb. 2024
  • Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and a total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
    — Cheyenne Haslett, ABC News, 17 Nov. 2023
  • Until this week, Israel had largely relied on airstrikes and artillery to retaliate against Hamas' massacre in Israel on Oct. 7.
    — Anders Hagstrom, Fox News, 31 Oct. 2023
  • Viewers retaliated by review-bombing Three Rivers on Goodreads with close to 600 one-star reviews.
    — Kate Lindsay, Vulture, 1 July 2023
  • In the aftermath of the Hamas attack that caught Israel by surprise and shocked the country, Israeli leaders vowed to retaliate to prevent a similar attack in the future.
    — Dan De Luce, NBC News, 21 Dec. 2023
  • The attack is supposed to be so thorough that the enemy has little to nothing to retaliate with, leaving it with surrender as the only option.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 24 July 2023
  • Israel has since retaliated by launching its own missile strikes into the Gaza Strip, and the Israeli government has declared war against Hamas.
    — Misty Severi, Washington Examiner, 9 Oct. 2023
  • But as cities like Seattle set minimum wages for gig drivers, Uber and DoorDash have retaliated by limiting the hours drivers can be on the road.
    — Michelle Cheng, Quartz, 7 Feb. 2024
  • More than 240 hostages were captured by Hamas and its allies during the Oct. 7 raid on southern Israel, prompting Israel to retaliate with massive airstrikes and then a ground invasion.
    — Patrick Kingsley, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2024
  • Enraged, Danny’s son retaliated a few weeks later by stabbing him in the abdomen.
    — Jennifer Egan, The New Yorker, 11 Sep. 2023
  • The group retaliates by putting an ever-escalating bounty on Wick’s head.
    — Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Mar. 2023
  • But the pace of new unionization petitions has slowed down, as workers allege the company has been retaliating in stores and stonewalling them at the bargaining table.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 22 Mar. 2023
  • Apple and Google retaliated by booting Fortnite from their app stores.
    — Christopher Hutton, Washington Examiner, 11 Dec. 2023
  • This is about one thing and one thing only, and that’s retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation.
    — William Earl, Variety, 10 May 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'retaliate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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