3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Retribution \Ret`ri*bu"tion\, n. [L. retributio: cf F.
r['e]tribution.]
1. The act of retributing repayment.
In good offices and due retributions, we may not be
pinching and niggardly. --Bp. Hall.
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
All who have their reward on earth, . . . Naught
seeking but the praise of men, here find Fit
retribution, empty as their deeds. --Milton.
3. Specifically, reward and punishment, as distributed at the
general judgment.
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.
Syn: Repayment; requital; recompense; payment; retaliation.
From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]:
retribution
n 1: a justly deserved penalty [syn: {requittal}]
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}]
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?
more about retribution
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