retaliative

1. 1.

   of or relating to or having the nature of retribution

   “retributive justice demands an eye for an eye”

   Synonymsretaliatoryretributiveretributoryvindicatory

   Similarpunitive

Questions about retaliative

What does retaliative mean?

retaliative means "of or relating to or having the nature of retribution".

How many syllables are in retaliative?

retaliative has 5 syllables: re-ta-li-a-tive. The stress falls on "li".

What is another word for retaliative?

Close synonyms include retaliatory, retributive, retributory, vindicatory. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is retaliative a common word?

retaliative is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.