RECIPROCATE

reciprocate

(verb) alternate the direction of motion of; “the engine reciprocates the propeller”

reciprocate

(verb) act, feel, or give mutually or in return; “We always invite the neighbors and they never reciprocate!”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

reciprocate (third-person singular simple present reciprocates, present participle reciprocating, simple past and past participle reciprocated)

(transitive) To exchange two things, with both parties giving one thing and taking another thing.

(transitive) To give something else in response (where the "thing" may also be abstract, a feeling or action) To make a reciprocal gift.

(intransitive) To move backwards and forwards, like a piston.

(intransitive) To counter, retort or retaliate.

Source: Wiktionary


Re*cip"ro*cate, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Reciprocated; p. pr. & vb. n. Reciprocating.] Etym: [L. reciprocatus, p. p. of reciprocare. See Reciprocal.]

Definition: To move forward and backward alternately; to recur in vicissitude; to act interchangeably; to alternate. One brawny smith the puffing bellows plies, And draws and blows reciprocating air. Dryden. Reciprocating engine, 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.

– Reciprocating motion (Mech.), motion alternately backward and forward, or up and down, as of a piston rod.

Re*cip"ro*cate, v. t.

Definition: To give and return mutually; to make return for; to give in return; to unterchange; to alternate; as, to reciprocate favors. Cowper.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

13 June 2025

AIRPLANE

(noun) an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets; “the flight was delayed due to trouble with the airplane”


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Coffee Trivia

Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.

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