From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishretaliatere‧tal‧i‧ate /rɪˈtælieɪt/ verb [intransitive] ATTACKto do something bad to someone because they have done something bad to you → hit backretaliate by doing something The British government retaliated by breaking off diplomatic relations.retaliate against The army began to retaliate against the civilian population.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
retaliate• Young Oliver Rowntree, nursing his outrage, spent the summer brooding about what he could do to retaliate.• He has promised to take tough measures to retaliate against extremists.• Huggins acknowledged that some of his players retaliated at the end of the game when they were doused by fans.• Before Edward could retaliate, Bruce headed for Scone.• Sigibert retaliated by calling in his allies from across the Rhine.• Later that day, whites retaliated by killing a young black delivery driver.• When police tried to push back the crowd, a few youths retaliated by throwing stones at them.• In an interview, Tyson claimed he was retaliating for Holyfield's attack on him.• A forgiving strategy is one that, although it may retaliate, has a short memory.• The government wants peace, but will not hesitate to retaliate if attacked.• Le Saux was fined and banned for one match for retaliating off the ball.• Walker retaliated only after Thomas hit him several times.• She decided not to retaliate physically, because it would put her in even greater danger.• I fully accept that it was wrong of the guards to retaliate with blows and kicks.Origin retaliate (1600-1700) Late Latin past participle of retaliare, from talio “suitable punishment” 