answer

[ an-ser, ahn- ]

/ ˈæn sər, ˈɑn- /

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noun

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.

Nearby words

ansi, ansiform, anson, ansonia, anstoss, answer, answer back, answer for, answer print, answer to, answerable

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 English andswerien, Old English andswerian, andswarian derivative of andswaru an answer, equivalent to and- opposite, facing (cf. and, along) + Germanic *swarō, derivative of swear

SYNONYMS FOR answer

1 riposte.

6 defense, plea.

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Related forms

an·swer·er, nounan·swer·less, adjectiveun·an·swered, adjectiveun·an·swer·ing, adjective

well-an·swered, adjective

Synonym study

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.

Word story

In English, the verb answer derives from the noun, though both are equally old and occur in Old English translations of the Gospels. The Old English noun is andswaru “response to a question,” composed of the Old English prefix and- “against, contra-” and -swer with two meanings: the legal sense of “a swearing on oath, as in giving testimony” and the neutral, nonlegal sense of “a reply, a response to a question.” In both its legal and general senses, Old English andswaru parallels the Latin verb respondēre, originally a legal term meaning “to make a formal response,” and then used in the general sense “to answer, reply.”

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for answer

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|DAILY BEAST
This 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|DAILY BEAST
They 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|DAILY BEAST
And why would its ostensible spokesperson refuse to answer yes/no questions about them?
How Canadian Oilmen Pinkwash the Keystone Pipeline|Jay Michaelson|December 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Some questions we may never know the answer to: Was Jay Z doing something he shouldn't have been doing?
Solange Smacks Jay Z, Legolas Slaps Bieber, and the Biggest Celebrity Feuds of the Year|Amy Zimmerman|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“Nothing at all, chère petite madame”—question and answer came many times a day.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol|William J. Locke
She appeared to hesitate over her answer, and he could feel her tumultuous breathing.
Bob Hampton of Placer|Randall Parrish
Tobias had seemed impressed, and promised his answer in the morning, leaving her to sleep—with a sentry at her cabin door.
Pieces of Eight|Richard le Gallienne
As my transports grew more moderate, and I found voice to thank my benefactor, he had still an answer.
A Gentleman of France|Stanley Weyman
"A quarter of a mile further upstream there's an old wood-road," he went on, in answer to Fred's eager query.
Harper's Round Table, October 8, 1895|Various

British Dictionary definitions for answer

answer

/ (ˈɑːnsə) /

noun

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with answer

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