Reprisal - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition reprisal

reprisal

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[Anglo-French reprisaile reprisaille, from Middle French, from Old Italian ripresaglia, from ripreso, past participle of riprendere to take back, from ri- back + prendere to take, from Latin prehendere]
1 a : the act or practice in international law of resorting to force short of war in retaliation for damage or loss suffered
b : an instance of such action
2 : a retaliatory act [may not fire a complaining employee in ]