retribution
/ˌɹɛt.ɹɪˈbju.ʃən/
retribution means punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance. It carries an Arena rating of 1467, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, retribution ranks #1,245 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,978 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #1,983 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #2,382 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words.
retribution is pronounced /ˌɹɛt.ɹɪˈbju.ʃən/.
Why “retribution” is a great word
Punishment inflicted as a deserved consequence for wrongdoing, often with a sense of moral justice. From Latin *retribuere* ("repay, give back"), from *re-* ("back") and *tribuere* ("assign, grant"), with the modern punitive sense developing in Middle English via Old French. Unlike *revenge*, which smolders with personal spite and seeks pain for pain’s sake, or *rehabilitation*, which tends the broken with the quiet labor of mending, retribution is the cold scale balanced, the debt exacted in full measure. It is the judge’s gavel falling without tremor, the key turning in the cell door, the ledger closed with a permanence that feels like order. It is the bleak comfort that some equations must be solved, even when all their terms are tragic.
Etymology
From Latin retribuere (“repay”).
noun
- Punishment inflicted in the spirit of moral outrage or personal vengeance.e.g.“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.” — 1983, Richard A. Posner, The economics of justice, m p.208:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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