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retort
1[ ri-tawrt ]
verb (used with object)
- to reply to, usually in a sharp or retaliatory way; reply in kind to.
Synonyms: retaliate
- to return (an accusation, epithet, etc.) upon the person uttering it.
- to answer (an argument or the like) by another to the contrary.
retort
2[ ri-tawrt ]
noun
- Chemistry.
- a vessel, commonly a glass bulb with a long neck bent downward, used for distilling or decomposing substances by heat.
- a refractory chamber, generally cylindrically shaped, within which some substance, as ore or coal, is heated as part of a smelting or manufacturing process.
- an airtight, usually cylindrical vessel of fire clay or iron, used in the destructive distillation chiefly of coal and wood in the manufacture of illuminating gas.
- a sterilizer for food cans.
verb (used with object)
- to sterilize food after it is sealed in a container, by steam or other heating methods.
- Chemistry. to subject (shale, ore, etc.) to heat and possibly reduced pressure in order to produce fuel oil, metal, etc.
retort
1/ rɪˈtɔːt /
noun
- a glass vessel with a round bulb and long tapering neck that is bent down, used esp in a laboratory for distillation
- a vessel in which large quantities of material may be heated, esp one used for heating ores in the production of metals or heating coal to produce gas
verb
- tr to heat in a retort
retort
2/ rɪˈtɔːt /
verb
- when tr, takes a clause as object to utter (something) quickly, sharply, wittily, or angrily, in response
- to use (an argument) against its originator; turn the tables by saying (something)
noun
- a sharp, angry, or witty reply
- an argument used against its originator
retort
/ rĭ-tôrt′,rē′- /
- A glass laboratory vessel in the shape of a bulb with a long, downward-pointing outlet tube. It is used for distillation or decomposition by heat.
Derived Forms
- reˈtorter, noun
Other Words From
- re·torter noun
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of retort1
Origin of retort2
Synonym Study
Example Sentences
Last week, The Lancet published a retort from a team led by Temple University biologist Enrico Bucci.
When the body goes into the retort, the first thing to burn is its cardboard box, or “alternative container” as it’s called on the funeral bill.
My grandfather’s witty retort kept coming to mind this year.
The Ralph Retort, a paragon of ethical journalism websites, decided to make crowdsourcing stuff to discredit me into a project.
“I want Ebola to leave Liberia, so I can go to school,” came the snappy retort deciphered by locals.
(To which the obvious retort was: the Christ-like thing to do would be to forgive me).
That remark prompted a sharp retort from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Here's a Boehner retort to Sean Hannity (via Buzzfeed's Rebecca Berg).
There is nothing like a plaintive retort when your case is utterly indefensible.
In conversing with foreigners, if they speak slightingly of the manners of your country, do not retort rudely, or resentfully.
Probably he lays hold of the elements of experience and casts them into a seeming retort of reveries.
The whole mass is then transferred to a retort and distilled over a slow fire.
"But my rings always make tusks more beautiful," was his retort.
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