answer

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I froze: it's almost always a hard question to answer, because the answer is almost always

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Definitions (59)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (16)

  1. noun A spoken or written reply, as to a question.
  2. noun A correct reply.
  3. noun A solution, as to a problem.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (25)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • And if you wonder, as I did, why the landlords do not cut windows in these dark rooms, and mend the leaky roofs and the dangerous stairways, you'll find the answer is the same. —  Mary Ware's Promised Land
  • But she had to explain tactfully to Mary that while her answer was a just one, it was not wise to anger the man still farther by sending it I shall have to ask you to rewrite that last page," she said regretfully. —  Mary Ware's Promised Land
  • And then he would tell her of his great love, and always her answer was the same: She would marry no man who was content to live upon an allowance. —  The Promise A Tale of the Great Northwest
  • The general has sent twice, the second appeal being made through my request, and in each case the answer was an insult Bit, father It is useless, my boy, so say no more. —  Crown and Sceptre A West Country Story
  • In every case the answer was a decided "No!" —  The Fugitives The Tyrant Queen of Madagascar
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

reply ·  statement ·  explanation ·  message ·  speech ·  decision ·  remark ·  expression ·  question ·  sir ·  smile ·  suggestion

Used in the same contextWord Family

answer:   answers ·  answered ·  answering
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English answere, from Old English andswaru; see swer- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also answeare, from Middle English answer, answar, answere, answare, andswere, andsware, etc., from Anglo-Saxon andswaru, ondswaru, feminine (= Old Saxon antswōr, masculine, = OFries. ondser, feminine, answer, = Icelandic andsvar, annsvar, neuter, answer, response, decision, = Swedish Danish ansvar, responsibility, formerly answer), from and-, against, in reply, + swaru, feminine (= Icelandic svar, usually in plural svör, neuter, answer, = Swedish Danish svar, answer), from swaran (only in weak present swerian), preterit swōr, swear, = Icelandic svara, answer, respond, = Swedish svara = Danish svare, answer, respond, = Gothic (Moesogothic) swaran, swear, prob. orig. ‘affirm, assert,’ with the subsequent implication, lost in the verb except in Scandinavian, of ‘assert in reply’: see and-, an-, and swear. Hence answer, v.
  2. Early modern English also answeare, aunswer, from Middle English answeren, answaren, andsweren, andswaren, onsweren, onswaren, ondsweren, ondswaren, from Anglo-Saxon andswarian, andswerian, ondswarian, ondswerian (preterit andswarode) = OFries. ondswera, onswera, onsera = Icelandic andsvara, annsvara, modern anza = Swedish ansvara = Danish ansvare, answer, account for; from the noun.
 

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/ˈænsər/
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