A reprisal means an act of retaliation or revenge, especially when someone responds to a harmful action by doing something harmful in return. When a bully picks on someone and that person's older sibling confronts the bully the next day, that confrontation is a reprisal. When one country attacks another's military base in response to an earlier attack, that's a military reprisal.

The word often appears in contexts where someone fears punishment for speaking up or taking action. A whistleblower might worry about reprisals from their company if they report wrongdoing. A student might hesitate to tell a teacher about a classmate's bad behavior because they fear reprisal from classmates.

Reprisals can escalate conflicts: when one side strikes back, the other side might feel justified in striking back again, creating a dangerous cycle. This is why many laws protect people from reprisal when they report problems or file complaints.

Today the word describes any payback action, though it typically suggests something more serious than everyday revenge, carrying a sense of a calculated response rather than hot-headed anger.