answer for

verb

1. to be liable or responsible for (a person's actions, behaviour, etc)

2. to vouch for or speak on behalf of (a person)

3. to suffer or atone for (one's wrongdoing)

Idioms and Phrases

Take responsibility for, take charge of, as in The new alarm system has to answer for the security of the grounds . [Late 1200s]

Take the blame for, as in The kids who were caught shoplifting have a lot to answer for . [c. 1200]

To vouch for or sponsor someone, as in I'll answer for John as a reliable employee . [Early 1700s]

Example Sentences

Epstein replied: "If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?"

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Replied Epstein: “if we were to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?”

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She pressed senior doctors for help and answers for several days, the complaint said.

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A new book by Ray Madoff at Boston College’s law school – The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy – lays out a clear answer for both.

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Epstein responds: "If we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?"

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