Retribution

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: ret=ri=bu=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

Retribution, n. [L. retributio: cf. F. rétribution.].

•  The act of retributing; repayment.  [1913 Webster]

  "In good offices and due retributions, we may not be pinching and niggardly."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which is given in repayment or compensation; return suitable to the merits or deserts of, as an action; commonly, condign punishment for evil or wrong.  [1913 Webster]

  "All who have their reward on earth, . . .
  Naught seeking but the praise of men, here find
  Fit retribution, empty as their deeds."  [1913 Webster]
•  Specifically, reward and punishment, as distributed at the general judgment.  [1913 Webster]

  "It is a strong argument for a state of retribution hereafter, that in this world virtuous persons are very often unfortunate, and vicious persons prosperous."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Repayment; requital; recompense; payment; retaliation.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Retribution, n. requital usu. for evil done; vengeance.

Derivative

retributive adj. retributory adj.

Etymology

ME f. LL retributio (as RE-, tribuere tribut- assign)

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Retribution

n. A rain of fire-and-brimstone that falls alike upon the just and such of the unjust as have not procured shelter by evicting them.
In the lines following, addressed to an Emperor in exile by Father Gassalasca Jape, the reverend poet appears to hint his sense of the improduence of turning about to face Retribution when it is talking exercise:

What, what! Dom Pedro, you desire to go
Back to Brazil to end your days in quiet?
Why, what assurance have you 'twould be so?
'Tis not so long since you were in a riot,
And your dear subjects showed a will to fly at
Your throat and shake you like a rat. You know
That empires are ungrateful; are you certain
Republics are less handy to get hurt in?

THESAURUS

Retribution

affliction, amends, atonement, avengement, avenging, blood money, castigation, chastening, chastisement, comeuppance, compensation, condign punishment, consideration, correction, counterblow, damages, desert, deserts, disciplinary measures, discipline, ferule, guerdon, honorarium, indemnification, indemnity, infliction, judgment, judicial punishment, just deserts, justice, making good, meed, nemesis, pains, pains and punishments, pay, paying back, payment, penal retribution, penalty, penology, price, punishment, punition, quid pro quo, quittance, recompense, redress, refund, reimbursement, remuneration, reparation, repayment, reprisal, requital, requitement, restitution, retaliation, retributive justice, return, revanche, revenge, reward, salvage, satisfaction, scourge, smart money, solatium, squaring, trial, tribulation, vengeance, visitation, well-deserved punishment, wergild, what is due, what is merited, what-for

ROGET THESAURUS

Retribution

Retaliation

N retaliation, reprisal, retort, payback, counter- stroke, counter-blast, counterplot, counter-project, retribution, lex talionis, reciprocation, tit for tat, give and take, blow for blow, quid pro quo, a Roland for an Oliver, measure for measure, diamond cut diamond, the biter bit, a game at which two can play, reproof valiant, retort courteous, recrimination, revenge, compensation, reaction, retaliating, retaliatory, retaliative, talionic, in retaliation, en revanche, mutato nomine de te fabula narratur, par pari refero, tu quoque, you too, you're another, suo sibi gladio hunc jugulo, a beau jeu beau retour, litem _ç, lite resolvit.

Payment

N payment, defrayment, discharge, acquittance, quittance, settlement, clearance, liquidation, satisfaction, reckoning, arrangement, acknowledgment, release, receipt, receipt in full, receipt in full of all demands, voucher, salary, compensation, remuneration (reward), repayment, reimbursement, retribution, pay, money paid, ready money, stake, remittance, installment, payer, liquidator, pay cash, pay cash on the barrelhead, paying, paid, owing nothing, out of debt, all straight, unowed, never indebted, to the tune of, on the nail, money down.

Punishment

N punishment, punition, chastisement, chastening, correction, castigation, discipline, infliction, trial, judgment, penalty, retribution, thunderbolt, Nemesis, requital, penology, retributive justice, lash, scaffold, imprisonment, transportation, banishment, expulsion, exile, involuntary exile, ostracism, penal servitude, hard labor, galleys, beating, flagellation, fustigation, gantlet, strappado, estrapade, bastinado, argumentum baculinum, stick law, rap on the knuckles, box on the ear, blow, stripe, cuff, kick, buffet, pummel, slap, slap in the face, wipe, douse, coup de grace, torture, rack, picket, picketing, dragonnade, capital punishment, execution, lethal injection, the gas chamber, hanging, electrocution, rail-riding, scarpines, decapitation, decollation, garrotte, garrotto, crucifixion, impalement, firing squad, martyrdom, auto-da-fe, noyade, happy dispatch, hara-kiri, seppuku, drinking the hemlock, punishing, penal, punitory, punitive, inflictive, castigatory, punished, Int, a la lanterne!, culpan paena premit comes, eating the bitter bread of banishment, gravis ira regum est semper, sera tamen tacitis paena venit pedibus, suo sibi gladio hunc jugulo.

Reward

N reward, recompense, remuneration, meed, guerdon, reguerdon, price, indemnity, indemnification, quittance, compensation, reparation, redress, satisfaction, reckoning, acknowledgment, requital, amends, sop, atonement, retribution, consideration, return, quid pro quo, salvage, perquisite, vail, douceur, bribe, hush money, smart money, blackmail, extortion, carcelage, solatium, allowance, salary, stipend, wages, compensation, pay, payment, emolument, tribute, batta, shot, scot, bonus, premium, tip, fee, honorarium, hire, dasturi, dustoori, mileage, crown, remunerative, remuneratory, munerary, compensatory, retributive, reparatory, rewarding, satisfactory, fideli certa merces, honor virtutis praemium, tibi seris tibi metis.

Penalty

N penalty, retribution, pain, pains and penalties, weregild, wergild, peine forte et dure, penance, the devil to pay, fine, mulct, amercement, forfeit, forfeiture, escheat, damages, deodand, sequestration, confiscation, premunire, doomage.