Primary
''reprisal'' ▫ᴱᴺ|Definition|1st|20260727004347-00-⌔
reprisal - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
reprisal (countable and uncountable, plural reprisals)
- An act of retaliation.
- (archaic) Something taken from an enemy in retaliation.
- (archaic) The act of taking something from an enemy by way of retaliation or indemnity.
- ✤ debatable ground, on which incursions and reprisals continued to take place1
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman reprisaille (French représaille), from Old Italian ripresaglia (Italian rappresaglia), from ripreso, past participle of riprendere (“to take back”), from Latin reprendere, earlier reprehendere (see reprehend).
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɹɪˈpɹaɪzəl/
- Audio (Southern England): 🔊
- Rhymes: -aɪzəl
Printed 2026-07-27.
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Link to original Footnotes
1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC: ↩
Secondary
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