Retribution

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [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

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  retribution
       n 1: a justly deserved penalty [syn: {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" [syn: {vengeance},
           {payback}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  78 Moby Thesaurus words for "retribution":
     affliction, amends, atonement, avengement, avenging, blood money,
     castigation, chastening, chastisement, comeuppance, compensation,
     condign punishment, consideration, correction, counterblow,
     damages, desert, deserts, disciplinary measures, discipline,
     ferule, guerdon, honorarium, indemnification, indemnity,
     infliction, judgment, judicial punishment, just deserts, justice,
     making good, meed, nemesis, pains, pains and punishments, pay,
     paying back, payment, penal retribution, penalty, penology, price,
     punishment, punition, quid pro quo, quittance, recompense, redress,
     refund, reimbursement, remuneration, reparation, repayment,
     reprisal, requital, requitement, restitution, retaliation,
     retributive justice, return, revanche, revenge, reward, salvage,
     satisfaction, scourge, smart money, solatium, squaring, trial,
     tribulation, vengeance, visitation, well-deserved punishment,
     wergild, what is due, what is merited, what-for
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  RETRIBUTION. 1. That which is given to another to recompense him for what 
  has been received from him; as a rent for the hire of a house. 2. A salary 
  paid to a person for his services. 3. The distribution of rewards and 
  punishments. 
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  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?