With its prefix re-, meaning "back", retribution means literally "payback". And indeed we usually use it when talking about personal revenge, whether it's retribution for an insult in a high-school corridor or retribution for a guerrilla attack on a government building.
RETRIBUTION definition: requital according to merits or deserts, especially for evil. See examples of retribution used in a sentence.
Definition of retribution noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
Define retribution. retribution synonyms, retribution pronunciation, retribution translation, English dictionary definition of retribution. n. 1. Punishment administered in return for a wrong committed. 2. Theology Punishment or reward distributed in a future life based on performance in this...
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(Definition of retribution from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
The term “retribution” means, in the simplest sense, revenge. Retribution in the legal world refers to the act of setting a punishment for someone that “fits the crime.” In other words, an eye for an eye, or “do unto others as you would have done unto you.”
Retribution is punishment for a crime, especially punishment which is carried out by someone other than the official authorities. He didn't want any further involvement for fear of retribution.
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.