1. an act of retaliation: "three youths died in the reprisals that followed"
▪ the forcible seizure of a foreign subject or their goods as an act of retaliation.
Word Originlate Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French reprisaille, from medieval Latin reprisalia (neuter plural), based on Latin repraehens- ‘seized’, from the verb repraehendere (see reprehend). The current sense dates from the early 18th century.
