answer

American  

[an-ser, ahn-] / ˈæn sər, ˈɑn- /

noun

• answers
  plural

1. a spoken or written reply or response to a question, request, letter, etc..

   He sent an answer to my letter promptly.

   Synonyms:

   riposte

2. a correct response to a question asked to test one's knowledge.

3. an equivalent or approximation.

   The band tried to be the French answer to the Beatles.

4. an action serving as a reply or response.

   The answer was a volley of fire.

5. a solution to a problem, especially in mathematics.

6. a reply to a charge or accusation.

   Synonyms:

   plea, defense

7. 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.

8. 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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verb (used without object)

• answers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• answered,
  past participle,  past
• answering
  present participle

1. to speak or write in response; make answer; reply.

2. to respond by an act or motion.

   He answered with a nod.

   The champion answered with a right to the jaw.

3. to act or suffer in consequence of (usually followed byfor ).

4. to be or declare oneself responsible or accountable (usually followed byfor ).

   I will answer for his safety.

5. to be satisfactory or serve (usually followed byfor ).

   His cane answered for a baseball bat.

6. to conform; correspond (usually followed byto ).

   The prisoner answered to the description issued by the police.

verb (used with object)

• answers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• answered,
  past participle,  past
• answering
  present participle

1. to speak or write in response to; reply to.

   to answer a person;

   to answer a question.

2. to act or move in response to.

   Answer the doorbell. We answered their goal with two quick goals of our own.

3. to solve or present a solution of.

4. to serve or fulfill.

   This will answer the purpose.

5. to discharge (a responsibility, claim, debt, etc.).

6. to conform or correspond to; be similar or equivalent to.

   This dog answers your description.

7. to atone for; make amends for.

8. to reply or respond favorably to.

   I would like to answer your request but am unable to do so.

verb phrase

1. answer back to reply impertinently or rudely.

   Well-behaved children do not answer back when scolded.

idioms

1. answer the helm, (of a vessel) to maneuver or remain steady according to the position of the rudder.

answer British  

/ ˈɑːnsə /

noun

1. a reply, either spoken or written, as to a question, request, letter, or article

2. a reaction or response in the form of an action

   drunkenness was his answer to disappointment

3. a solution, esp of a mathematical problem

4. law

   1. a party's written reply to his opponent's interrogatories

   2. (in divorce law) the respondent's written reply to the petition

5. a musical phrase that follows the subject of a fugue, reproducing it a fifth higher or a fourth lower

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verb

1. (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

2. (tr) to reply correctly to; solve or attempt to solve

   I could answer only three questions

3. to respond or react (to a stimulus, command, etc)

   the steering answers to the slightest touch

4. (tr) to pay off (a debt, obligation, etc); discharge

5. to meet the requirements (of); be satisfactory (for); serve the purpose (of)

   this will answer his needs

   this will answer for a chisel

6. to match or correspond (esp in the phrase answer (or answer to ) the description )

7. (tr) to give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument)

answer More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing answer

• know all the answers
• take no for an answer

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Usage

Spelling tips for answer The word answer is hard to spell because the w is silent. Answer is pronounced [ an-ser ]. How to spell answer: First, remember that answer has a silent w. To remember that you should place the silent w immediately after the s, remember that you can abbreviate silent w as sw.

Synonym Usage

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.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• answerer
  noun
• answerless
  adjective
• unanswered
  adjective
• unanswering
  adjective
• well-answered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• answers
  plural

Participles

• answering
  present
• answered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• answer
  simple
• answers
  simple
• have answered
  perfect
• has answered
  perfect
• am answering
  progressive
• are answering
  progressive
• is answering
  progressive
• have been answering
  perfect progressive
• has been answering
  perfect progressive

Past

• answered
  simple
• had answered
  perfect
• was answering
  progressive
• were answering
  progressive
• had been answering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will answer
  simple
• will have answered
  perfect
• will be answering
  progressive
• will have been answering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of answer

First recorded before 900; Middle English andswerien, Old English andswerian, andswarian, derivative of andswaru “an answer,” equivalent to and- “opposite, facing” ( cf. and, along) + unattested Germanic swarō, derivative of swear

Explanation

An answer is a response to a question, problem, or need. If you don’t get enough sleep, quitting your late-night TV habit might be the answer. Answer, which can be a noun or a verb, comes from the Old English for swear, and the word originally meant an official, sworn response to a legal charge. We don’t have to be sworn in when we answer a question, however, we just need to reply. Answer also means "solution." Is the answer to poverty better education? If you meet a requirement, you answer it. If you are obligated to someone, you answer to him.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

answer answers answered answering

Are they worried that David Ellison is going to make everyone move to Nashville? — the answer seems pretty simple and obvious.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

The fewer clues you need to get the right answer, the more points you score.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

The answer is silica, a material that is 20 times more toxic than coal.

From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026

Sen. Darline Graham flubbed an answer on a South Carolina debate stage Tuesday, but she’s far from the only politician who could use a refresher on Pacific geopolitics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Here is the answer to the cynics who give the motion picture no place in the family arts .

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Social media platforms and message boards are crawling with asks for reliable weather app recommendations, and the answers can vary wildly.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

Give us five correct answers inside five minutes.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Nobody will know until 2028 and answers will depend on the package, your tax bracket and your level of fandom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

Nall said while she is hesitant to use the word “optimistic,” she has been seeing improvements in AI’s answers since they’ve been doubling down on their efforts to influence LLMs.

From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026

When Babs answers the door, I can tell she’s surprised to see us.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

It will be answered from 09:00 to 17:00 on 26 August and then 24 hours a day from 09:00 on 27 August until 15:00 on 31 August.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

If you answered “no” to all of them, try the DIY tests below.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Getting around slower traffic on the highway typically involves a foot-to-the-floor maneuver, which is answered with a portentous auto-downshift followed by a lot of yammering.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Last week’s episode of Amicus included a mailbag special in which Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern answered listeners’ burning questions about the law.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

She never raised her hand, but Mrs. Tracy called on her every now and again, and Jessica answered.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

As regular Slatest readers know, we usually spend this newsletter answering questions about the news.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

Builder Mark Jefferson from Ilminster, Somerset, ignored the National Lottery's notifications for nine days before reluctantly answering the phone.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026

"That genetic information, in turn, offers us a window into the past, answering questions about things such as when and where a manuscript was made."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

When you see a picture of a children eagerly raising their hands in class, Ms. Watson dryly observes, the students are likely answering a teacher’s prompt, rather than raising a query.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

Marina also worked at answering her steady stream of fan mail.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Related Words

• comment
• explanation
• feedback
• interpretation
• justification
• key
• observation
• rebuttal
• remark
• report
• resolution
• response
• result
• return
• sign
• solution
• statement