counterretaliation

noun

coun·​ter·​re·​tal·​i·​a·​tion ˌkau̇n-tər-ri-ˌta-lē-ˈā-shən 

-ˌrē-

variants or counter-retaliation

plural counterretaliations or counter-retaliations

: an act of retaliating against a previous retaliatory act

… provoke retaliatory strikes that are promptly followed by counterretaliation.

—Robert Lekachman

Examples of counterretaliation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

One study in Chicago, for example, found evidence that cycles of retaliation and counterretaliation meant that a single shooting was often the root cause of three, or sometimes 60, or once almost 500 subsequent shootings over the next few years. —John Pfaff, The New Republic, 21 June 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1813, in the meaning defined above