answer
[an-ser, ahn-]
- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- answer back, to reply impertinently or rudely: Well-behaved children do not answer back when scolded.
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- answer the helm, Nautical. (of a vessel) to maneuver or remain steady according to the position of the rudder.
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Origin of answer
Synonyms
See more synonyms for answer on Thesaurus.com1. riposte. 6. defense, plea.
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.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
answer for
- to be liable or responsible for (a person's actions, behaviour, etc)
- to vouch for or speak on behalf of (a person)
- to suffer or atone for (one's wrongdoing)
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answer
- 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
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- (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)
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for answer for
answer
n.
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.
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answer
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with answer for
answer for
1
Take responsibility for, take charge of, as in The new alarm system has to answer for the security of the grounds. [Late 1200s]
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2
Take the blame for, as in The kids who were caught shoplifting have a lot to answer for. [c. 1200]
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3
To vouch for or sponsor someone, as in I'll answer for John as a reliable employee. [Early 1700s]
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answer
In addition to the idioms beginning with answer
also see:
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.