reprisal

1. Retaliation for an injury with the intent of inflicting at least as much injury in return.
2. Forcible seizure of an enemy's goods or subjects in retaliation for injuries inflicted.
3. The practice of using political or military force without actually resorting to war.

[Middle English reprisail, from Old French reprisaille, from Old Italian ripresaglia, from ripreso, past participle of riprendere, to take back, from Latin reprehendere, reprēndere, to take hold of. See reprehend.]

noun

The act of retaliating: counteraction, counterattack, counterblow, reciprocation, requital, retaliation, retribution, revenge, tit for tat, vengeance. Idioms: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, like for like, measure for measure. See attack/defend, forgiveness/vindictiveness.

Definition: revenge
Antonyms: kindness, sympathy

An act by which a nation seeks, short of war, to redress a wrong committed against it by another nation. Boycotts and blockades are common forms of reprisal.

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2007)

For the novel by F. Paul Wilson, see Reprisal (novel).

Not to be confused with a reprise, or with a reappraisal.

In warfare, a reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of the laws of war to punish an enemy who has already broken them. A legally executed reprisal is not an atrocity.

To be legally justified, a reprisal may be directed only against the party carrying out the original violation, may be carried out only as a last resort after formal notice of the planned reprisal having been given, must be proportionate to the original violation, must have the aim of persuading the original violator to comply with the legally accepted behavior in future, and must not continue after the illegal behavior ends.

Circumstances usually dictate that reprisals may be taken only against people guilty of the original violation. However, there is always a probability that the reprisals will themselves be viewed as war crimes, risking a vicious circle of violations by both sides.

All four Geneva Conventions prohibit reprisals against, respectively, battlefield casualties, shipwreck survivors, prisoners of war and civilians, as well as certain buildings and property. An additional 1977 protocol extends this to cover historic monuments, works of art, and places of worship.

In the United States military, the lowest ranked commander who may authorize a reprisal is a general in command of a theater.

Etymology

The word came from French, where it originally meant "act of taking back", for example, raiding back the equivalent of cattle lost to an enemy raid.

See also

Look up reprisal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Collective punishment
• Laws of war
• Letter of marque, (license to hunt enemy ships and retake lost ships from the enemy).
• War

External link

• CrimesofWar.org

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - gengældelse, gengældelsesaktion, modforholdsregler

Nederlands (Dutch)
vergeldings- maatregel

Français (French)
n. - représailles

Deutsch (German)
n. - Vergeltungsakt

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αντεκδίκηση, ανταπόδοση των ίσων, (πληθ.) αντίποινα

Italiano (Italian)
rappresaglia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - represália (f)

Русский (Russian)
ответный удар, месть

Español (Spanish)
n. - represalia

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - vedergällning, repressalier, beslagtagande

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
报复, 报复性劫掠, 报仇

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 報復, 報復性劫掠, 報仇

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 앙갚음, 보복

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 報復, 仕返し, 報復攻撃

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) إنتقام, إسترداد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פעולת תגמול, מעשה נקמה‬

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