Retaliate
WordNet
verb
(1) Make a counterattack and return like for like, especially evil for evil
"The Empire strikes back"
"The Giants struck back and won the opener"
"The Israeli army retaliated for the Hamas bombing"
(2) Take revenge for a perceived wrong
"He wants to avenge the murder of his brother"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From , pp. of < + .
Verb
- To do something harmful or negative to get revenge for some harm; to fight back or respond in kind to an injury or affront.
- John replied to Peter's insult with a verbal attack to retaliate for Peter's acid remark earlier.