Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To give or take mutually; interchange.
- intransitive verb To show, feel, or give in response or return.
- intransitive verb To give and take something mutually.
- intransitive verb To make a return for something given or done.
- intransitive verb To move back and forth alternately.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cause to move back and forth; give an alternating motion to.
- To give and return mutually; yield or perform each to each; interchange: as, to
reciprocate favors. - To give or do in response; yield a return of; requite correspondingly.
- To move backward and forward; have an alternating movement; act interchangeably; alternate.
- To act in return or response; do something equivalent or accordant: as, I did him many favors, but he did not reciprocate.
- In mathematics, to take the reciprocal of.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To give and return mutually; to make return for; to give in return; to interchange; to alternate.
- intransitive verb To move forward and backward alternately; to recur in vicissitude; to act interchangeably; to alternate.
- intransitive verb a steam, air, or gas engine, etc., in which the piston moves back and forth; -- in distinction from a
rotary engine , in which the piston travels continuously in one direction in a circular path. - intransitive verb (Mech.) motion alternately backward and forward, or up and down, as of a piston rod.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
mutually give andtake something; tointerchange . - verb transitive To give something in
response . - verb intransitive To move
backwards andforwards , like apiston . - verb intransitive To
counter ,retort orretaliate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb act, feel, or give mutually or in return
- verb alternate the direction of motion of
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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HARRY LEWIS: There's a-the latest Facebook craze is "25 Random Things About Me," where you're supposed to put twenty-five facts about yourself and then you send it to twenty-five people and ask them to reciprocate, which is a wonderful marketing ploy for Facebook, of course, because if you don't have a Facebook account, of course, you want to sign up and get one, so that you too can share twenty-five random things about yourself.
Democracy Now! 2009
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HARRY LEWIS: There's a-the latest Facebook craze is "25 Random Things About Me," where you're supposed to put twenty-five facts about yourself and then you send it to twenty-five people and ask them to reciprocate, which is a wonderful marketing ploy for Facebook, of course, because if you don't have a Facebook account, of course, you want to sign up and get one, so that you too can share twenty-five random things about yourself.
Democracy Now! 2009
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Providing for others who never add to your reciprocate is the same as throwing it away.
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But he said Cuba has to "reciprocate" gestures made by US President Barack Obama in the lead up to the gathering of 33 leaders of Latin American and Caribbean nations, which excluded Cuba.
unknown title 2009
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But he said Cuba has to "reciprocate" gestures made by US President Barack Obama in the lead up to the gathering of 33 leaders of Latin American and Caribbean nations, which excluded Cuba.
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Will President Obama ever reciprocate and stand up and fight for issues Rep. Kucinich advocates?
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Will President Obama ever reciprocate and stand up and fight for issues Rep. Kucinich advocates?
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The new hip-hop generation should spend their money with businesses that reciprocate resources to their communities.
Zondra Hughes: Hip-Hop Economics: Dollars and Sense for the New School Zondra Hughes 2011
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Do you think that if the Palestinians (the dehumanizing ‘Fakestinian’ thing is classic racist lingo BTW) dropped the right to return that Israel would reciprocate?
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I suspect that Hamas has learned the lesson and will find the opportunity to reciprocate.
Matthew Yglesias » Peres: Gaza Operation is Collective Punishment, and I Love It 2009
guitar commented on the word reciprocate
To give something or do something in return
July 8, 2014