Requite.
Synonyms:
| avenge, | punish, | remunerate, | revenge, |
| compensate, | quit, | repay, | reward, |
| pay, | reciprocate, | retaliate, | satisfy, |
| pay off, | recompense, | return, | settle with. |
To repay or to retaliate, to punish or to reward, may be to make some return very inadequate to the benefit or injury received, or the right or wrong done; but to requite (according to its etymology) is to make so full and adequate a return as to quit oneself of all obligation of favor or hostility, of punishment or reward. Requite is often used in the more general sense of recompense or repay, but always with the suggestion, at least, of the original idea of full equivalent; when one speaks of requiting kindness with ingratitude, the expression gains force from the comparison of the actual with the proper and appropriate return. Compare PAY.
Antonyms:
| absolve, | excuse, | forgive, | overlook, | pass over, |
| acquit, | forget, | neglect, | pardon, | slight. |
Preposition:
To requite injury with injury is human, but not Christian.