Link Centre Dictionary

reciprocate

re·cip·ro·cate

UK/ɹɪˈsɪpɹəˌkeɪt/ US/rɪˈsɪprʌˌkeɪt/ uncommon

verb

1.

act, feel, or give mutually or in return

  • “We always invite the neighbors and they never reciprocate!”
2.

alternate the direction of motion of

  • “the engine reciprocates the propeller”

Origin

From Latin recīprocātus, perfect passive participle of recīprocō (“to move back and forth”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from reciprocus (“back an forth, reciprocal, alternating”) + -ō (first conjugation verb-forming suffix), itself possibly from a phrase such as reque proque (“back and forth”), from re- (“back”), prō (“forwards”) and -que (“and”). See also reciprocal. Compare French réciproquer.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.