noun
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a reply or response to a question or remark, esp a quick witty one; retort
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law (in pleading) the answer made by a defendant to the claimant's reply
Synonym Usage
See answer.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of rejoinder
1475–85; < Middle French rejoindre (noun use of infinitive); see rejoin 2
Explanation
A rejoinder usually means a witty comeback. If someone asks you a silly question like, "Are you painting?" when you are holding a paint can and a brush, your rejoinder could be, "No, I'm just doing my nails." The word rejoinder comes from the Middle French word rejoindre, which meant to answer a legal charge. The meaning of a witty retort developed from the legal meaning. You often think of the best rejoinders long after the crucial moments have passed, which can be really frustrating.
Vocabulary lists containing rejoinder
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Call of the Wild
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A Separate Peace
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The remarks landed as a pointed rejoinder to Chalamet, who sparked a firestorm last month after appearing to question the cultural relevance of classical performance arts.
From Barron's • Mar. 14, 2026
They’re a rejoinder to all the fatalistic commentary about tanking and how “being bad to get better” is an accepted reality of the NBA.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 2, 2026
Whatever the cause, it is not some trifling oversight; this blunder undermined Ziegler’s most important legal rejoinder to the majority.
From Slate • Nov. 26, 2025
Burns tried to rectify this but succumbed to sentimentality, as foreign affairs columnist Patrick Lawrence explained in his 2017 rejoinder to the series and, well, my impression of it:
From Salon • Apr. 30, 2025
One of his last acts as president was to place on file in the State Department his rejoinder to Bache’s accusations, which historians have long since discovered were based on forged English documents.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
