answer

American  

[an-ser, ahn-] / ˈæn sər, ˈɑn- /

noun

• answers
  plural

1. a spoken or written reply or response to a question, request, letter, etc..

   He sent an answer to my letter promptly.

   Synonyms:

   riposte

2. a correct response to a question asked to test one's knowledge.

3. an equivalent or approximation.

   The band tried to be the French answer to the Beatles.

4. an action serving as a reply or response.

   The answer was a volley of fire.

5. a solution to a problem, especially in mathematics.

6. a reply to a charge or accusation.

   Synonyms:

   plea, defense

7. Law. a pleading in which a party responds to the opponent's statement of position, especially the defendant's reply to the plaintiff's complaint.

8. Music. the entrance of a fugue subject, usually on the dominant, either slightly altered or transposed exactly after each presentation in the tonic.

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verb (used without object)

• answers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• answered,
  past participle,  past
• answering
  present participle

1. to speak or write in response; make answer; reply.

2. to respond by an act or motion.

   He answered with a nod.

   The champion answered with a right to the jaw.

3. to act or suffer in consequence of (usually followed byfor ).

4. to be or declare oneself responsible or accountable (usually followed byfor ).

   I will answer for his safety.

5. to be satisfactory or serve (usually followed byfor ).

   His cane answered for a baseball bat.

6. to conform; correspond (usually followed byto ).

   The prisoner answered to the description issued by the police.

verb (used with object)

• answers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• answered,
  past participle,  past
• answering
  present participle

1. to speak or write in response to; reply to.

   to answer a person;

   to answer a question.

2. to act or move in response to.

   Answer the doorbell. We answered their goal with two quick goals of our own.

3. to solve or present a solution of.

4. to serve or fulfill.

   This will answer the purpose.

5. to discharge (a responsibility, claim, debt, etc.).

6. to conform or correspond to; be similar or equivalent to.

   This dog answers your description.

7. to atone for; make amends for.

8. to reply or respond favorably to.

   I would like to answer your request but am unable to do so.

verb phrase

1. answer back to reply impertinently or rudely.

   Well-behaved children do not answer back when scolded.

idioms

1. answer the helm, (of a vessel) to maneuver or remain steady according to the position of the rudder.

answer British  

/ ˈɑːnsə /

noun

1. a reply, either spoken or written, as to a question, request, letter, or article

2. a reaction or response in the form of an action

   drunkenness was his answer to disappointment

3. a solution, esp of a mathematical problem

4. law

   1. a party's written reply to his opponent's interrogatories

   2. (in divorce law) the respondent's written reply to the petition

5. a musical phrase that follows the subject of a fugue, reproducing it a fifth higher or a fourth lower

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verb

1. (when tr, may take a clause as object) to reply or respond (to) by word or act

   to answer a question

   he answered

   to answer the door

   he answered that he would come

2. (tr) to reply correctly to; solve or attempt to solve

   I could answer only three questions

3. to respond or react (to a stimulus, command, etc)

   the steering answers to the slightest touch

4. (tr) to pay off (a debt, obligation, etc); discharge

5. to meet the requirements (of); be satisfactory (for); serve the purpose (of)

   this will answer his needs

   this will answer for a chisel

6. to match or correspond (esp in the phrase answer (or answer to ) the description )

7. (tr) to give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument)

answer More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing answer

• know all the answers
• take no for an answer

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Usage

Spelling tips for answer The word answer is hard to spell because the w is silent. Answer is pronounced [ an-ser ]. How to spell answer: First, remember that answer has a silent w. To remember that you should place the silent w immediately after the s, remember that you can abbreviate silent w as sw.

Synonym Usage

Answer, rejoinder, reply, response, retort all mean words used to meet a question, remark, charge, etc. An answer is a return remark: an answer giving the desired information. A rejoinder is a quick, usually clever answer or remark made in reply to another's comment, not to a question. Reply usually refers to a direct or point-by-point response to a suggestion, proposal, question, or the like: a reply to a letter. A response often suggests an answer to an appeal, exhortation, etc., or an expected or fixed reply: a response to inquiry; a response in a church service. A retort implies a keen, prompt answer, especially one that turns a remark upon the person who made it: a sharp retort.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• answerer
  noun
• answerless
  adjective
• unanswered
  adjective
• unanswering
  adjective
• well-answered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• answers
  plural

Participles

• answering
  present
• answered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• answer
  simple
• answers
  simple
• have answered
  perfect
• has answered
  perfect
• am answering
  progressive
• are answering
  progressive
• is answering
  progressive
• have been answering
  perfect progressive
• has been answering
  perfect progressive

Past

• answered
  simple
• had answered
  perfect
• was answering
  progressive
• were answering
  progressive
• had been answering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will answer
  simple
• will have answered
  perfect
• will be answering
  progressive
• will have been answering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of answer

First recorded before 900; Middle English andswerien, Old English andswerian, andswarian, derivative of andswaru “an answer,” equivalent to and- “opposite, facing” ( cf. and, along) + unattested Germanic swarō, derivative of swear

Explanation

An answer is a response to a question, problem, or need. If you don’t get enough sleep, quitting your late-night TV habit might be the answer. Answer, which can be a noun or a verb, comes from the Old English for swear, and the word originally meant an official, sworn response to a legal charge. We don’t have to be sworn in when we answer a question, however, we just need to reply. Answer also means "solution." Is the answer to poverty better education? If you meet a requirement, you answer it. If you are obligated to someone, you answer to him.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

answer answers answered answering

Could the answer lie at an almost unimaginably small scale?

From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2026

"The answer to these questions is not to be found in Morocco, but rather with the relevant Spanish stakeholders," the ministry said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

Net unrealized appreciation is not automatically the answer, and treating it that way costs people money too.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

The form tells applicants to answer only “if this resonates with you,” and offers a “decline to state” choice.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

“It means crossword puzzles,” I say, my voice quiet, when Nate doesn’t answer.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Now Anthropic alleges that China's Moonshot and Deepseek have also secretly used Claude to generate answers given to its users.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

In the second episode, when Alice asks Rebecca if she’d ever considered her for the lead coach job, Rebecca curtly answers no.

From Salon ● Sep. 10, 2026

The councilmember supports the project and its goals, while also believing that residents and small-business owners have raised “legitimate concerns” that “deserve concrete answers and solutions.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Often a human expert gives the model questions and ideal answers, or grades and guides the model’s answers until it can respond properly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

Now, when I think about getting the answers I was desperate for…I feel like I’m hurtling into a part of the story I may not want to read.

From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller

"Depending on how you answered it it got easier or harder so it varied depending on how well you did."

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

The report does not disclose how Moraes answered.

From Barron's ● Sep. 5, 2026

The company hasn’t answered questions about whether the deaths in Novartis’s studies occurred in one clinical trial or across several.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

Trout was so enthusiastic that, when a reporter asked if he was excited about what the new vision might be, he answered before the reporter could finish asking the question.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Oftentimes I would use the trip home to bring up things that were troubling me, since anything I asked at home was promptly answered by the aunts.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

“You need to consider why the Supreme Court would even want to entertain answering your question,” he said in an interview.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

Little known in its early days, the platform took off sharply with the launch of ChatGPT and the rise of so-called generative AI, capable of answering requests written in everyday language.

From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026

“Is this circular financing?” he wrote, before answering, “No.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026

It said it had "provided answers to questions relating to Alan Greer's offending during the course of his police career" and did not believe it had been answering questions about his police vetting record.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

Without answering, he sank into a deep sleep.

From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret

Related Words

• comment
• explanation
• feedback
• interpretation
• justification
• key
• observation
• rebuttal
• remark
• report
• resolution
• response
• result
• return
• sign
• solution
• statement