English Explanatory Dictionary

reply

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To give a written or spoken response, especially to a question, request, accusation or criticism; to answer.
  2. To act or gesture in response.
  3. To repeat something back; to echo.
noun
  1. A written or spoken response; part of a conversation.
  2. Something given in reply.
  3. A counterattack.
  4. The answer of a figure.
  5. A document written by a party specifically replying to a responsive declaration and in some cases an answer.

Pronunciation

/ɹɪˈplaɪ/ en-us-reply.ogg

Word forms

reply replies replying replied

Etymology

From Middle English replyen, replien, borrowed from Old French replier (“to reply”), from the Latin replicō, replicāre (“to fold back”) (in Late or Medieval Latin "to reply, repeat"), from re + plicō (“to fold”); the noun derives from the verb by nominalisation. Doublet of replicate and replica.

Synonyms

respond answer back react rejoin counter revert follow up get back to answer retort return comeback response account rejoinder riposte reaction rebuttal

Related words

respond

Derived words

autoreply counterreply misreply nonreplying replyer replyingly unrepliable unreplied unreplying nonreply auto-reply business reply international reply coupon refer someone to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram replyallpocalypse reply all storm reply device reply girl reply guy reply-ping reply vehicle timestamp reply
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on R Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary