- 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: The band 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.
- a pleading in which a party responds to the opponent's statement of position, especially the defendant's reply to the plaintiff's complaint.
- the entrance of a fugue subject, usually on the dominant, either slightly altered or transposed exactly after each presentation in the tonic.
- 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.
- 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.
- to reply impertinently or rudely: Well-behaved children do not answer back when scolded.
- (of a vessel) to maneuver or remain steady according to the position of the rudder.
- a reply, either spoken or written, as to a question, request, letter, or article
- a reaction or response in the form of an action
- 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
- to reply or respond (to) by word or act
- to reply correctly to; solve or attempt to solve
- to respond or react (to a stimulus, command, etc)
- to pay off (a debt, obligation, etc); discharge
- to meet the requirements (of); be satisfactory (for); serve the purpose (of)
- to match or correspond (esp in the phrase answer (or answer to) the description)
- to give a defence or refutation of (a charge) or in (an argument)
