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: a singing group that 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 his or her 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.
verb (used without object)
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.
verb (used with object)
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.
Verb Phrases
answer back, to reply impertinently or rudely: Well-behaved children do not answer back when scolded.
Idioms
answer the helm, Nautical. (of a vessel) to maneuver or remain steady according to the position of the rudder.
Origin of answer
before 900;Middle Englishandswerien,Old Englishandswerian, andswarian derivative of andswaru an answer, equivalent to and- opposite, facing (cf. and, along) + Germanic*swarō, derivative of swear
Related formsan·swer·er, nounan·swer·less, adjectiveun·an·swered, adjectiveun·an·swer·ing, adjectivewell-an·swered, adjective
1. 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.
a reply, either spoken or written, as to a question, request, letter, or article
a reaction or response in the form of an actiondrunkenness 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
verb
(when tr, may take a clause as object)to reply or respond (to) by word or actto answer a question; he answered; to answer the door; he answered that he would come
(tr)to reply correctly to; solve or attempt to solveI 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)
Word Origin for answer
Old English andswaru an answer; related to Old Frisian ondser, Old Norse andsvar; see swear
Old English andswaru "an answer, a reply," from and- "against" (see ante) + -swaru "affirmation," from swerian "to swear" (see swear), suggesting an original sense of "make a sworn statement rebutting a charge." A common Germanic compound (cf. Old Saxon antswor, Old Norse andsvar, Old Frisian ondser, Danish and Swedish ansvar), implying a Proto-Germanic *andswara-. Meaning "a reply to a question," the main modern sense, was present in Old English. Meaning "solution of a problem" is from c.1300.
v.
Old English answarian "to answer;" see answer (n.). Meaning "to respond in antiphony" is from early 15c.; that of "to be responsible for" is early 13c. Related: Answered; answering. The telephone answering machine is from 1961.
