Retaliation vs Reaction - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between retaliation and reaction

is that retaliation is violent response to an act of harm or perceived injustice while reaction is .

(en-noun)

Violent response to an act of harm or perceived injustice.

An act of violent response.

* {{quote-news, year=2009, date=January 13, author=, title=`Never again,' says survivor, work=Toronto Star citation

, passage=Hamas knew there would be massive retaliations .}}

* See also

(en noun)

An action or statement in response to a stimulus or other event

The announcement of the verdict brought a violent reaction .

You were in the courtroom. What is your reaction ?

When I last tried to eat strawberries I had a terrible allergic reaction .

(chemistry) A transformation in which one or more substances is converted into another by combination or decomposition

In this reaction , the acid and base will neutralize each other, producing a salt.

* English words suffixed with -tion