Word of the Day

: May 14, 2013

requite

verb rih-KWYTE

What It Means

1 a : to make return for : repay

b : to make retaliation for : avenge

2 : to make suitable return to for a benefit or service or for an injury

requite in Context

Beautiful but malevolent, Maude requited Sydney's love with scorn and treachery.

"Odds are that O’Brien's flare-up of romantic love for Amanda won't be requited." - From a movie review by John Wirt in The Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana), November 16, 2012

Did You Know?

You might be familiar with the phrase "unrequited love." Love that has not been requited is love that has not been returned or paid back in kind, which brings us to the common denominator in the above definitions for "requite"-the idea of repayment, recompense, or retribution. The "quite" in "requite" is a now obsolete English verb meaning "to set free, discharge, or repay." ("Quite" is also related to the English verb "quit," the oldest meanings of which include "to pay up" and "to set free.") "Quiten," the Middle English source of "quite," can be traced back through Anglo-French to Latin "quietus" ("quiet" or "at rest"), a word which is also an ancestor of the English word "quiet."