answer
a spoken or written reply or response to a question, request, letter, etc.: He sent an answer to my letter promptly.
a correct response to a question asked to test one's knowledge.
an equivalent or approximation: The band tried to be the French answer to the Beatles.
an action serving as a reply or response: The answer was a volley of fire.
a solution to a problem, especially in mathematics.
a reply to a charge or accusation.
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.
Music. the entrance of a fugue subject, usually on the dominant, either slightly altered or transposed exactly after each presentation in the tonic.
to speak or write in response; make answer; reply.
to respond by an act or motion: He answered with a nod.The champion answered with a right to the jaw.
to act or suffer in consequence of (usually followed by for).
to be or declare oneself responsible or accountable (usually followed by for): I will answer for his safety.
to be satisfactory or serve (usually followed by for): His cane answered for a baseball bat.
to conform; correspond (usually followed by to): The prisoner answered to the description issued by the police.
to speak or write in response to; reply to: to answer a person;to answer a question.
to act or move in response to: Answer the doorbell. We answered their goal with two quick goals of our own.
to solve or present a solution of.
to serve or fulfill: This will answer the purpose.
to discharge (a responsibility, claim, debt, etc.).
to conform or correspond to; be similar or equivalent to: This dog answers your description.
to atone for; make amends for.
to reply or respond favorably to: I would like to answer your request but am unable to do so.
answer back, to reply impertinently or rudely: Well-behaved children do not answer back when scolded.
Idioms about answer
answer the helm, Nautical. (of a vessel) to maneuver or remain steady according to the position of the rudder.
Origin of answer
1synonym study For answer
word story For answer
Other words for answer
Other words from answer
- an·swer·er, noun
- an·swer·less, adjective
- un·an·swered, adjective
- un·an·swer·ing, adjective
- well-answered, adjective
Words Nearby answer
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use answer in a sentence
The BLS says there is no right answer for when to start counting.
Vice presidential debate: Highlights and fact-checks | Colby Itkowitz, Anne Gearan, Matt Viser, Felicia Sonmez, John Wagner | October 8, 2020 | Washington PostThe answer is we’d have to do something about burning fossil fuels.
The Greening of Antarctica - Issue 90: Something Green | Marissa Grunes | October 7, 2020 | NautilusFor Shu Yang, professor of material science at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the Center for Analyzing Evolved Structures as Optimized Products, the answer to this urban heat problem is biomimetic design on the city scale.
Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Environmentalism - Issue 90: Something Green | Anastasia Bendebury & Michael Shilo DeLay | October 7, 2020 | NautilusLooking at the corresponding answers can also tell you about what kind of content Google considers worthy of surfacing as well as who your competitors may be.
‘People Also Ask’ boxes: Tips for ranking, optimizing and tracking | George Nguyen | October 7, 2020 | Search Engine LandThe answer to this age-old question could reveal a little bit about your personality, some research shows.
We need to recover and grow the idea that the proper answer to bad speech is more and better speech.
Take the chief metric of the war in Vietnam—body counts, which ultimately did not answer whether the strategy was working.
Pentagon Doesn’t Know How Many People It’s Killed in the ISIS War | Nancy A. Youssef | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThis reporter knocked at the Wilkins home on Tuesday morning but received neither an answer nor the business end of a shotgun.
The 7-Year-Old Plane Crash Survivor’s Brutal Journey Through the Woods | James Higdon | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThey already know the answer, but they know by feigning ignorance they can create all this debate about it.
Patton Oswalt on Fighting Conservatives With Satire | William O’Connor | January 6, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTThe best answer Sutton offers is a statement by the preacher John Roach Stratton back in 1918.
The Goliath wouldn't answer; the Dublin said the force was coming off, and we could not get into touch with the soldiers at all.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian HamiltonI stooped down and asked him how he felt himself, but he made no answer, and evidently did not recollect me.
To answer the last question, Why people are not equally supplied?
The sailors were all in amazement, and asked me a thousand questions, which I had no inclination to answer.
Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan SwiftHys ignored the acid tone of her answer and sat down on the couch next to them.
Sense of Obligation | Henry Maxwell Dempsey (AKA Harry Harrison)
British Dictionary definitions for answer
/ (ˈɑːnsə) /
a reply, either spoken or written, as to a question, request, letter, or article
a reaction or response in the form of an action: drunkenness was his answer to disappointment
a solution, esp of a mathematical problem
law
a party's written reply to his opponent's interrogatories
(in divorce law) the respondent's written reply to the petition
a musical phrase that follows the subject of a fugue, reproducing it a fifth higher or a fourth lower
(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
(tr) to reply correctly to; solve or attempt to solve: I could answer only three questions
(intr usually foll by to) to respond or react (to a stimulus, command, etc): the steering answers to the slightest touch
(tr) to pay off (a debt, obligation, etc); discharge
(when intr, often foll by for) to meet the requirements (of); be satisfactory (for); serve the purpose (of): this will answer his needs; this will answer for a chisel
(when intr, often foll by to) to match or correspond (esp in the phrase answer (or answer to) the description)
(tr) to give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument)
Origin of answer
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with answer
In addition to the idioms beginning with answer
- answer back
- answer for
- answer to
also see:
- know all the answers
- take no for an answer
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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