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Demur vs Reprisal - What's the difference?

demur | reprisal |

As nouns the difference between demur and reprisal

is that demur is stop; pause; hesitation as to proceeding; suspense of decision or action; scruple while reprisal is an act of retaliation.

As a verb demur

is (obsolete) to linger; to stay; to tarry.

demur

English

Verb

(demurr)
  • (obsolete) To linger; to stay; to tarry
  • * Nicols
    • Yet durst not demur nor abide upon the camp.
  • To delay; to pause; to suspend proceedings or judgment in view of a doubt or difficulty; to hesitate; to put off the determination or conclusion of an affair.
  • * Hayward
    • Upon this rub, the English embassadors thought fit to demur .
  • To scruple or object; to take exception; to oppose; to balk
    • I demur to that statement.
    The personnel demurred at the management's new scheme.
  • (legal) To interpose a demurrer.
  • (obsolete) To suspend judgment concerning; to doubt of or hesitate about
    • The latter I demur , for in their looks / Much reason, and in their actions, oft appears. -
  • (obsolete) To cause delay to; to put off
  • * Quarles
    • He demands a fee, / And then demurs me with a vain delay.

    Related terms

    * demurrage * demurrer

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Stop; pause; hesitation as to proceeding; suspense of decision or action; scruple.
    • All my demurs but double his attacks; At last he whispers, ``Do; and we go snacks.'' -
  • * 2004 , (Richard Fortey), The Earth , Folio Society 2011, p. 132:
    • Most geologists today would accept such evidence without demur , but it was still ‘fringe’ science when du Toit was publishing.

    Derived terms

    * demureness

    References

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    reprisal

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act of retaliation.
  • (archaic) Something taken from an enemy in retaliation.
  • (archaic) The act of taking something from an enemy by way of retaliation or indemnity.
  • * Macaulay
    • debatable ground, on which incursions and reprisals continued to take place

    Synonyms

    * See also