answer
Americannoun
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a spoken or written reply or response to a question, request, letter, etc..
He sent an answer to my letter promptly.
- Synonyms:
- riposte
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a correct response to a question asked to test one's knowledge.
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an equivalent or approximation.
The band tried to be the French answer to the Beatles.
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an action serving as a reply or response.
The answer was a volley of fire.
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a solution to a problem, especially in mathematics.
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a reply to a charge or accusation.
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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.
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Music. the entrance of a fugue subject, usually on the dominant, either slightly altered or transposed exactly after each presentation in the tonic.
verb (used without object)
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to speak or write in response; make answer; reply.
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to respond by an act or motion.
He answered with a nod.
The champion answered with a right to the jaw.
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to act or suffer in consequence of (usually followed byfor ).
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to be or declare oneself responsible or accountable (usually followed byfor ).
I will answer for his safety.
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to be satisfactory or serve (usually followed byfor ).
His cane answered for a baseball bat.
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to conform; correspond (usually followed byto ).
The prisoner answered to the description issued by the police.
verb (used with object)
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to speak or write in response to; reply to.
to answer a person;
to answer a question.
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to act or move in response to.
Answer the doorbell. We answered their goal with two quick goals of our own.
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to solve or present a solution of.
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to serve or fulfill.
This will answer the purpose.
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to discharge (a responsibility, claim, debt, etc.).
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to conform or correspond to; be similar or equivalent to.
This dog answers your description.
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to atone for; make amends for.
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to reply or respond favorably to.
I would like to answer your request but am unable to do so.
verb phrase
idioms
noun
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a reply, either spoken or written, as to a question, request, letter, or article
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a reaction or response in the form of an action
drunkenness was his answer to disappointment
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a solution, esp of a mathematical problem
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law
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a party's written reply to his opponent's interrogatories
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(in divorce law) the respondent's written reply to the petition
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a musical phrase that follows the subject of a fugue, reproducing it a fifth higher or a fourth lower
verb
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(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
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(tr) to reply correctly to; solve or attempt to solve
I could answer only three questions
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to respond or react (to a stimulus, command, etc)
the steering answers to the slightest touch
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(tr) to pay off (a debt, obligation, etc); discharge
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to meet the requirements (of); be satisfactory (for); serve the purpose (of)
this will answer his needs
this will answer for a chisel
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to match or correspond (esp in the phrase answer (or answer to ) the description )
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(tr) to give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument)
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
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answerernoun
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answerlessadjective
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unansweredadjective
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unansweringadjective
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well-answeredadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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answersimple
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answerssimple
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have answeredperfect
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has answeredperfect
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am answeringprogressive
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are answeringprogressive
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is answeringprogressive
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have been answeringperfect progressive
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has been answeringperfect progressive
Past
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answeredsimple
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had answeredperfect
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was answeringprogressive
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were answeringprogressive
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had been answeringperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing answer
Unit 8
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Spelling Practice, Unit 7
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Spelling Practice 3, Unit 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
New research suggests the answer may depend on a combination of personality, sleep quality, mental habits, and major events unfolding in the outside world.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
Asked how Salute is able to run a school in Florida despite her past and not registering, the state Education Department did not provide a direct answer.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
Mid-listen, you can tap a button, ask your question, hear the answer, and then pick up the story right where you left off.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Asked why those songs mattered so much, her answer is simple.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Could it really be such a basic answer?
From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse
Existing theories of satellite formation offer several possible answers, but recent research into stellar magnetic fields suggests that some of those ideas may need to be reconsidered.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, who declared a national energy emergency this year, said Monday that nuclear power might hold answers for a country paying the highest electricity prices in the region.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
You are right to expect answers from your adviser now, not later.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Sociology, the discipline tasked with pursuing the answers, would seem well poised to take these issues on.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
At least with spelling, the correct answers are always right there on the page.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
The models, operating largely free of U.S. government restrictions, patiently answered, issuing step-by-step instructions described by company employees as simple enough for a high-school biology student to follow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
When Hollywood beckoned, the boys answered the call, cavorting, cutting up and reconfiguring reality on the silver screen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
After the jury foreman, when asked “How say you?” answered “Guilty,” 34 times, Trump turned to face the back of the room, looking uncharacteristically stricken.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
You have, in effect, answered your own question.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
In just a few weeks, the spirit had answered so many questions so accurately that residents felt responsible for finding the peddler’s murderer.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Daisy's business goes live from a studio for a minimum of six hours a day with different presenters interacting with shoppers, from showing off products to answering their questions.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
“For the safety of staff and the community, we’re keeping the store closed for the time being,” an employee said in a recording on its answering machine Sunday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2026
The hard thing about answering this question is that workers whose jobs are now exposed to AI have in the past typically had different end-of-career patterns than others.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Every second matters when law enforcement officers, firefighters, or paramedics are answering a call.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
“Because if something goes wrong during the flight, we want you to land in a place that is easily accessible for Resilience to retrieve you,” Guardian says, answering Fly’s question again.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
