A retaliatory action taken in response to someone else's retaliation; revenge on a revenger.
From counter- + reprisal (from Old French represaille, from Latin reprehendere, meaning to seize back). Describes an escalating cycle of retaliatory actions.
Counterreprisal is the mechanism behind many historical blood feuds and international conflicts—when A retaliates against B, then B counterretaliates against A, creating an endless cycle. Game theorists study this pattern to understand why conflicts escalate and how to break the cycle.
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