Flounder vs Retaliate - What's the difference?
flounder | retaliate |
A European species of flatfish having dull brown colouring with reddish-brown blotches; fluke, European flounder, .
(North America) Any of various flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae or Bothidae.
A bootmaker's tool for crimping boot fronts.
(rfi, the bootmaker's tool)
To flop around as a fish out of water.
To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance.
To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.
* Sir W. Hamilton
* 1996 , , Virago Press, paperback edition, page 136
English nouns with irregular plurals
To do something harmful or negative to get revenge for some harm; to fight back or respond in kind to an injury or affront.
To repay or requite by an act of the same kind.
* Sir T. Herbert
* Jonathan Swift
In lang=en terms the difference between flounder and retaliate
is that flounder is to act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered while retaliate is to repay or requite by an act of the same kind.As verbs the difference between flounder and retaliate
is that flounder is to flop around as a fish out of water while retaliate is to do something harmful or negative to get revenge for some harm; to fight back or respond in kind to an injury or affront.As a noun flounder
is a european species of flatfish having dull brown colouring with reddish-brown blotches; fluke, european flounder,.flounder
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) floundre, from . Cognate with Danish flynder, German Flunder, Swedish flundra.Noun
(en-noun)External links
* (wikipedia "flounder")Etymology 2
Possibly from the noun. Possibly from (founder) or from (etyl) . See other terms beginning with fl , such as (flutter), (flitter), (float), (flap), (flub), (flip)Verb
(en verb)- Robert yanked Connie's leg vigorously, causing her to flounder and eventually fall.
- They have floundered on from blunder to blunder.
- He gave a good speech, but floundered when audience members asked questions he could not answer well.
- He is assessing directions, but he is not lost, not floundering .
Usage notes
Frequently confused with the verb founder. The difference is one of severity; floundering'' (struggling to maintain a position) comes before ''foundering (losing it completely by falling, sinking or failing).References
retaliate
English
Verb
(retaliat)- John insulted Peter to retaliate for Peter's acid remark earlier.
- One ambassador sent word to the duke's son that his visit should be retaliated .
- It is unlucky to be obliged to retaliate the injuries of authors, whose works are so soon forgotten that we are in danger of appearing the first aggressors.
