English edit

Etymology edit

From requite +‎ -al, 1570-1580.

Pronunciation edit

  • enPR: rĭ-kwītʹ-əl, IPA(key): /ɹɪ.ˈkwaɪt.əl/
    • (file)
  • Hyphenation: re‧quit‧al
  • Rhymes: -aɪtəl

Noun edit

requital (countable and uncountable, plural requitals)

  1. Compensation for damage or loss; amends.
    Synonym: requite
  2. Retaliation or reprisal; vengeance.
  3. Return in kind; recompense, repayment, reward.
    Synonym: requite
    • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
      O, take his mother's thanks, a widow's thanks, / Till your strong hand shall help to give him strength / To make a more requital to your love.
    • 1599, Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker's Holiday, act I, scene 1:
      My lord mayor, you have sundry times / Feasted myself and many courtiers more: / Seldom or never can we be so kind / To make requital of your courtesy.
    • 1791, James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (quoting Johnson):
      In requittal [sic] of those well-intended offices, which you are pleased so emphatically to acknowledge, let me beg that you make in your devotions one petition for my eternal welfare.
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. [], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, [], →OCLC, pages 309–310:
      What is the requital that the Athenians of the earth give to those who have struggled through the stormy water, and the dark night, for their applause?—both reproach and scorn.
    • 2009, Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Nature of Love, page 233:
      But we are thinking here above all of the happiness that comes with the requital of love, of the case in which my love is returned with an equal love.

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