retribution

Noun
Synonyms: requitalvengeancepayback

WordNet 3.0

Noun (3)

  1. a justly deserved penaltySynonyms: requital
  2. the act of correcting for your wrongdoing
  3. the act of taking revenge (harming someone in retaliation for something harmful that they have done) especially in the next life“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord — Romans 12:19”“For vengeance I would do nothing. This nation is too great to look for mere revenge — James Garfield”“he swore vengeance on the man who betrayed him”“the swiftness of divine retribution”Synonyms: vengeancepayback
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Retribution \Ret`ri*bu"tion\, n. [L. retributio: cf. F. r['e]tribution.]

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

In good offices and due retributions, we may not be pinching and niggardly.— Bp. Hall.[1913 Webster]

2.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.— Milton.[1913 Webster]

3.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.— Addison.[1913 Webster]

Syn: Repayment; requital; recompense; payment; retaliation. [1913 Webster] Retributive

The Devil's 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?

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